Duty and Conscience
by Harvey Bautista
Summary: Duty and Conscience, together they form Integrity.
1. 0x0x01 Starry Night

Duty and Conscience Harvey Bautista - Disgruntled Hamster Media  
  
Prologue- Starry Night v.1.2  
  
  
  
  
  
'Sasami's Vision"  
  
Sasami gained consciousness and found herself walking down a long wooden hallway bordered by rice-paper paneled doors. Not knowing what to do, she decided to press forward to see what was at the end of her path.  
  
"Hello, is anybody there?"  
  
No one answered her question. Sasami continued to walk, looking from side to side, finding nothing special in the grayscale tone the lack of lighting gave the hallway. In the absolute silence, even creaking of old wooden slats would have been welcome.  
  
"One-san, Tenchi-ni-san, please, someone."  
  
As she neared the end and approached the chamber her path lead to, Sasami picked out some sounds. Her attention drawn, Sasami decided to pick up her pace and started to jog towards the general direction of the source. With her haste, Sasami struggle from falling as her sock-clad feet slid along the polished floor.  
  
What she saw would be forever burned into her memory. There, on his side, her young, long-lost brother Yosho lay still. Underneath him was a puddle of a dark liquid, spreading ever so slowly across the surface. After taking this in for several seconds, realization smashed into Sasami's thoughts. She began to shake, and her knees failed her, as she started to caress Yosho's face, confirming by touch what her mind screamed at her. Is this how you met your end nee-san? Sasami thought to herself. Still warm.  
  
"This-this isn't real . it's just a n-nightmare." Sasami stood up, staggering backwards averting her eyes from the cooling corpse.  
  
As Sasami tried to pull herself together, the vibrant rich ring of metal striking metal caught her attention once more. Looking up she saw three figures in the distance, outside of the chamber and in a sand garden. Against her better judgment, Sasami decided to get a better view of what was going on, no longer able to stand the sight of death before her eyes Sasami stumbled as she rose to run, albeit slower, heeding the lack of traction in the smooth surface.  
  
As she reached the sliding doors, Sasami slid to a stop and kneeled behind one, not wishing to be spotted by the people on the courtyard. As she was making her way to her destination, Sasami made out more details on the figures; two men, and one woman. One of the men was steadily retreating from the other two figures, both men wielded what looked like Katanas, and the woman had a Hoko. The lone man was giving ground, but Sasami could see it wasn't a frantic retreat. Taking a look at the calm waves the man was making as he glided across the sand, it was apparent that it was an intentional fallback, that it was planned. His blade somehow shone in the darkness, while his opponents had highlights of crimson detailing his. Both men were dressed in Hakama and Gi. Both of whom wore black Gi with Hakama that had black wave-crests acting as the trim, the other, although she couldn't tell which one seemed to be a bright shade. How come their dressed like samurai? Sasami asked herself as she decided to move closer. Looking at the pursuing man's back, Sasami's could see an eight-pointed star serving as the Mon.  
  
Sasami crept forward, onto the deck, trying to get a better view of the action. As the pursuing man dashed forward, losing some momentum thanks to the sand, the second swordsman sidestepped and crouched, bracing for the attack. Instead of using his position to absorb the impact of the pursuer's slash, the defender counter-attacked. It was akin to a clumsy adult lunging at a child to whom the sandbox was his domain. The defender sidestepped his momentum and darted forward in one fluid motion; preserving inertia.  
  
Using the shinogi of his own Katana, the defending man met his foe's blade and deflected it to the side. As the aggressor tried to bring his blade back on center, the defender used this added momentum to slide his blade across the other man's in a shallow arc. The high-pitched grim, a metallic scream, pierced Sasami's mind.  
  
The next thing Sasami saw was the reddish bar of light protruding through the first man's back. The light shimmered as the bar twisted and Sasami knew it was the Katana's boshi she saw, the rest of the blade cutting across the man's back, a small mist following the exit. As the obviously aggressor fell, Sasami finally got a clear picture of the victor. What she saw made her gasp out in shock.  
  
"Tenchi-ni-san..?"  
  
The man Sasami saw had Tenchi's face. Yet, he looked different, as she focused she saw little details that made him stick out from the Tenchi she knew. His face was weathered, where there had been soft curves was now a sculpted façade, no longer boyish, but masculine. What hit Sasami hardest was this Tenchi's eyes. They still had the same kindness her Tenchi had, yet they were clouded, as if over the years, the innocence and their brightness were dimmed. It also belied exhaustion, as if they had seen too much, and they were tired. tired of life. the epiphany rocked Sasami to the core.  
  
"TENCHI!"  
  
However this did not get the man's attention. Without any indication of even hearing Sasami's cry, Tenchi shifted his attention from his foe's corpse and shifted it to the woman. She was the epitome of femininity; gracefully gliding across the sand barefoot, leaving petite crescents along her path. The serenity of the woman's actions belied her intent. She was dressed in archer's attire, complete with a leather cuirass across her chest. Like the men, she wore the same colors. Sasami's pulse thundered inside her mind as she waited for Tenchi to do something, anything. Yet all Tenchi did was to stand his ground, resolute in what would happen, whatever the result. It maddened Sasami as Tenchi simply took out a square of rice paper; folding it into a triangle and wiping his Katana clean with it, staining the purity of the pristine white sheet. For some reason, there was no fire or hint of a will to fight behind his eyes, and this frightened Sasami. All she saw was resignation not surrender, but the fires of resolution smoldering in his dark irises, indiscernible from his pupils save for the shine.  
  
"Tenchi, what are you doing!" Sasami cried out in a futile fashion, knowing that whatever it was, Tenchi had made a decision. Even though this Tenchi looked different, in this steadfast devotion, he was still the same.  
  
Sasami then jumped of the veranda onto the ground. She ran along the side of the garden making her way to the edge closest to Tenchi. Frantically Sasami tried to get to him before the lady made contact, even though she knew she could not do anything, she still decided to run to him, anything to get him to react. To do nothing would have driven Sasami mad. So long as the body is busy, the mind is distracted.  
  
The woman stopped in front of Tenchi and held her Hoko at a ready position, a formal posture in a duel. In an action that surprised both females eyeing him, Tenchi simply nodded to the lady and sheathed his sword. As the tsuba plunged home and hit the lip of the saya, the sharp ring it produced cut through the air like the sound of crystal, with the same impact of a tolling bell. Both Sasami and the lady were taken aback, the latter stepping backward, ruining the harmony of her path, raking sand backwards with her toes. She faltered for a moment, knowing she had just exposed herself and the duel was already decided before it had even begun. The woman shook off her astonishment started talking to Tenchi. It was strange, although Sasami could hear everything else with increased clarity; she could not hear their voices.  
  
As if he did not even sincerely listen to any of the lady's arguments, whatever they were, Tenchi had a wistful smile, his eyes going distant, losing their age for but a moment, shrugging loosely. The woman's face contorted in confusion for an instant, then a malevolent mask the next. Not wasting words, the lady took her Hoko and swung it in a crosswise curve.  
  
"Yamete!" Not caring anymore, Sasami dashed onto the sand garden, cursing her footing as the sand itself seemed to prevent her from preventing what she feared, what Sasami knew she could not stop, lest her wishes came true. She fought for her balance, trying not to get mired in the grains of sand, heedless of the chaos she sowed in her terrified wake.  
  
The perpendicular tip of the blade dug into Tenchi's stomach, ending up in a lateral slash, the sickening sound of flesh yielding to forged metal imprinting itself upon Sasami's mind. For Sasami, it was as if time seemed to stop. She saw the spray of blood suspended in mid-air, almost as if she was looking at a still-shot of flying water, ruby water. No, this can't be real, it isn't real, it isn't come on, wake up!, Sasami kept us her frantic mantra, refusing to acknowledge what she saw as being truth, being reality.  
  
However, almost as if to mock her denial, time resumed. Jerking like Tenchi when he was cut down, Sasami dropped to her knees. She began to crawl towards Tenchi, who was calmly lying on the ground. Screaming out in terror, Sasami clumsily clawed her way back onto her feet. Tenchi stared up into the stars, losing himself at the celestial bodies in turn looking down upon him. His left hand went to his waist, and Tenchi brought it up to his face. Sasami saw it covered in crimson, that same infuriating color, the only thing in the visual spectrum besides the grayscale. Tenchi blinked, not knowing how to react, his hand dropping back to the ground, mixing his blood with the particles. As he brought the hand back up, Tenchi viewed both his palm and the starry night. Along with Tenchi, Sasami saw the grim similarity the shimmering mixture had to the night sky.  
  
Again the fact that she could do nothing made itself known in her mind. Helplessly, Sasami slowed and eventually stopped, standing up to get a look at the aftermath. The blood from Tenchi and the anonymous man now stretched out across the sands in a crude caricature of the water it was meant to symbolize. As she watched the scene, going numb, Sasami noticed something about the lady. After pulling her blade out of Tenchi's midsection, the shaft slid from her grasp. The lady began to convulse and it appeared as if she was having a seizure. The lady collapsed onto her knees, clutching at her face and beginning to shriek. As she convulsed in the sands, Tenchi calmly turned to look at her, losing energy consciousness as his head fell back into the sand. As promptly as the fit began, the woman slackened, spent. After a few seconds of lethargy, the woman then looked up and around, alert and confused as to where she was. Upon seeing Tenchi on the sand she recoiled in shock, the lady conquered her fears and went to him.  
  
The woman, in a bizarre act contradicting what she had just done, took slid her knees under as she lifted his head, placing it in her lap. She was shuddering as she began to caress his face, the tenderness she now showed seeming unnatural; a dichotomy. As Sasami watched, two streaks of sparkling light ran down the woman's face, ruining what must have been make- up, and onto Tenchi's, running down his own cheeks. They were macabre companions to the trickling stream of crimson running from the side of Tenchi's mouth. Tenchi once again surprised both females when his right hand came up, albeit shakily, and then began to fondly stroke the woman's face, reciprocating her own actions, trying to soothe the lady. Tenchi attempted to wipe away her seemingly endless river of tears. His hands were shaking, yet they continued diligently performing their task. As his hand went slower, Tenchi gathered the strength to move his lips and although she could not hear it, Sasami read his lips and gasped at what Tenchi said to this woman.  
  
The very words, the very same words that Sasami knew if any of her companions in the household ever heard directed at them, especially in such a manner, would have insured, regardless if they lived only a handful of seconds later or eons, it made no difference. All of them would have died being the happiest women in the Milky Way Galaxy. Sasami knew she would've had the same reaction as the others.  
  
But as she watched the scene unfold, Sasami began to feel something else. It was enough that not only had been ripped away from them, from her, he belonged to another. Ever since the woman began to show kindness to the man she struck down, Sasami began to feel something eating at her from the inside besides grief. Those words just amplified this feeling, inflaming it, torturing Sasami even more. No matter how hard Sasami or any of the other girls tried, they could never succeed. Now, some stranger comes in and takes him away. In mind, in body and in soul. This isn't fair. No, this is not fair! Even though Tenchi treated her like a little sister and she tried to return the sentiment by treating him like an elder brother. most of the time, Sasami wanted more. She would be the last one to deny any such accusation.  
  
Sasami cursed her body for what it was; a prison. Sasami damned her child's form for she was trapped within a vessel that all but ensured Tenchi would never see her in the same light she saw him. He thinks I was asleep the entire time aboard Ryu-oh. that I'm still an 8-year old girl. Whatever love Tenchi would give her, Sasami would gladly receive, but now, even the most farfetched of hopes have been taken away. Hope had been destroyed, now not even denial could distract Sasami.  
  
Tenchi's hand froze and gravity brought it down. His fingers curled, resembling the withering of a fallen autumn leaf. Anyone would have seen it as inevitable, but in no way does such knowledge lessen the impact. His final act was as if he was trying to prevent the lady's tears. But it seemed as if it was too late. As it was futile to close the barn door after the horse had escaped, so was it to seal the leak after all the water had run out.  
  
Instead of collapsing in on herself in an emotional overload as the fierce, serene, and unique fire that burned within Tenchi's eyes finally was extinguished, never to burn again, the woman closed Tenchi's unseeing eyes and tried to bring herself under control, shaking uncontrollably once again. It was this time when the woman looked away from Tenchi that Sasami saw her face in full detail.  
  
She was the epitome of Asian grace and dignity, augmented by her almost extra-terrestrial beauty, as if the lady was a doll, too perfect to be human. However, something in her looked foreign, out of place. Sasami thought she looked like a younger Funaho, if it wasn't for her light shade of hair, which seemed to be gray, even in this world of whites, blacks, and reds. Taking a second glance, Sasami determined that Funaho had nothing on the lady. However, even with her Japanese features, Sasami knew right there that she could not be of this world, rather, this planet to be precise, she emanated a familiar aura, not familiar to Sasami, but to Tsunami instead, Tsunami knows her.. Then it hit her, the lady's face! Ignoring the lady's eye color and coiffure, Sasami knew who she was. She looked just like the 'Lady'. The very same 'Lady' that haunted her dreams was now tormenting her in another way.  
  
Something in Sasami snapped. She may look like a child, but in truth she had been conscious for centuries. In her search aboard Ryu-oh, when she was in stasis, she was aware. Her father anticipated the long amount of time it would take for them to find Yosho, so he insured that Sasami along with Aeka had subliminal learning while she was in stasis. Besides being safe inside a ship that wields the famous Wings of the LightHawk, the heirs could learn the arts of statehood, albeit at the cost of social maturing, which Azusa viewed was not essential to being a good leader, yet Even on this long search, Ryu-oh periodically resuscitated them in order to go on a short vacation  
  
Why did the 'Lady' take this form and subject her to watch this torture? Was this a warning, a vision of what is to come? Sasami began to think of possible reasons why she would have this dream. As to why Tenchi and the others in her dream were dressed in clothing appropriate to people in Feudal Japan. They bore a strong resemblance to some of the characters on the samurai soaps she watched with the other girls. Although she didn't have a chance to enjoy it then, she knew that Tenchi didn't look half-bad in that outfit, now mature, even his queue evolving from his tail.  
  
The thing gnawing away at her inside took control. She finally identified what it was, a sensation that she has never felt before. This was rage, pure hate-filled rage. However, it didn't emanate from just her, it mainly came from the other occupying her body. Tsunami for some reason was fiercely protective of the boy, even if he was her avatar. With a look on her face that matched Ryoko's expression of anger and anguish, Sasami started walking towards the corpse of the anonymous man. For once she was going to fight back, she was not going to let the 'Lady' win this time, no she was not letting 'her' take away Tenchi away from them. Almost as if Sasami was watching herself from afar in the same manner she had observed, her tiny hands reached for the fallen man's sword.  
  
However, it wasn't really Sasami's rage at the helm, it was Tsunami's, her other part, normally dormant now making itself known and very determined to get its way. Although it was another consciousness using her body, Sasami felt as if she and Tsunami were one, synchronized in a sense.  
  
It felt awkward at first in her grasp, Sasami never having handled a Katana before in her life, yet for some reason, she adapted to it very fast, maybe thanks to Tsunami's influence. It felt strange, it both exuded power and security, while at the same time made her feel fear at the capabilities of what is in her hands. What did bother her to an extent was how the sand was bonded onto the blade by her brother's blood and it created a network of sparkles, almost like a path of stars in the sky. It wasn't heavy to her thanks to the strength she inherited from her mother. Marching over to the woman still kneeling in the sand Tsunami made no attempt at stealth, They never noticed me before, so what's the point, Sasami rhetorically thought.  
  
I will not let you win . sister . , Tsunami proceeded to raise the Katana over her head for an earthward slash directed right at the back of the woman's neck. She then tensed her forearms, pumped once, twice, and...  
  
"'E'-ehhhhhh!"  
  
Sasami jolted awake in her futon on the floor. She started to shake, feeling the cold sweat covering her. Her body was throbbing with adrenaline, her heart seeming to want to burst from her chest. Looking around, she saw Ryo-Ohki asleep next to her; Aeka in the futon alongside in the room they shared. Sasami stared up at the ceiling trying to think about what happened just happened in her dream. She tried to calm herself down, and as she listened to the nighttime sounds, she heard Aeka mumbling in her sleep.  
  
"O-oh . you mustn't Tenchi-sama." Aeka mumbled out in an embarrassed, high- pitched voice.  
  
Sasami was taken aback, Is she having a nightmare too? and as she thought this, Aeka continued on uninterrupted, now her face was getting redder.  
  
"No.no. Stop!" Aeka said, now expressing some emotion in her sleepy voice.  
  
It sounds like it, but, why does she sound. happy, Tenchi's getting killed! Sasami wondered, alarmed at the fact that her sister had such an attitude towards Tenchi.  
  
"I don't believe it. Eee!" Aeka now whimpered out loud, beginning to roll around even more, getting brighter than her pink-hued beddings.  
  
What's going on in her dream . Sasami pondered.  
  
"No, don't stop. Keep going!" Aeka was now beginning to buck in her futon, confined only by her heavy quilt, whimpering in joy, just a few octaves higher and she could have shattered glass.  
  
Oh, never mind, it's another one of 'those' dreams . Sasami realized, a sweat drop forming on her head, deciding to go back into her own little world of thoughts.  
  
What did the 'Lady' want with Tenchi? What does this mean? What happened to me in there. I never felt so ... an ... angry before. As she pondered, a sudden fear struck Sasami. Where's Tenchi!. Although it was an irrational fear, what happened in that dream just wouldn't let her kick it out to the side. Naturally, Sasami began to cry, her childish side taking over once more. She decided to get up, and leaving Ryo-Ohki and Aeka in their slumber made her way out of her room and into the hallway. Also, she was frightened by the wrath Tsunami displayed. For better or for worse, she could not remember any of the final details, her recollections ended where Tsunami took the helm in her sleep.  
  
"Oh my! Oh my!" Aeka exclaimed, I thought MY dreams were vivid Sasami thought shaking her head, at seeing Aeka's back arch off of her futon, twisting there, before falling back, writhing, her breathing uneven.  
  
Oh no! Not this again, this is home...this is home...this is home... she was thinking when walking down the hallway. The lack of lighting made it out to be grimly similar to the hall she traversed in that dream. As hard as she tried, Sasami could not keep the tears from coming. At least I wasn't as bad as I used to be. But it's gotten worse too at the same time ...   
  
Sasami knocked on Tenchi's door. After a few seconds Tenchi answered it, thinking along the lines of 'who could it be at this time of night?' As he looked around, Tenchi saw nothing. Before the perplexed boy could look down, a sobbing Sasami tackled him, taking them both into his room as he landed on his back, grunting at the hard impact.  
  
"Sa-Sasami, what happened? Did you have a nightmare again?" No, not again, why her Tenchi thought, struggling up toa sitting position.  
  
"Uh-uh huh Tenchi-ni-chan." Sasami stammered out, unable to coherently speak. Now detaching herself from him, trying to bring herself under control.  
  
"Come in ... tell me what happened Sami-chan." Tenchi beckoned to her, inviting to make herself comfortable.  
  
"Oh-okay," Sasami complied, taking her place in the chair belong to Tenchi's desk.  
  
"Okay, what happened to your sister, don't tell me those two are at it again...I can't believe how irres-" Tenchi asked her, Please don't tell me Aeka and Ryoko must be too busy fighting again to take care of you, Sasami.  
  
"No, no it wasn't like that Tenchi; I just needed to make sure you were safe." Sasami explained, having to resist the temptation to score points against the two, tempting as it was.  
  
Tenchi was set aback by this statement, I expected things like this from Ryoko...but Sasami? Don't tell me my life is about to get more complicated than it already is.  
  
"Sa-Sasami-chan, what do you mean by that?" Tenchi asked her, trying to ascertain the problem.  
  
"Well.well, Yosho-ni-san was dead on the floor and I-I saw you figh- fighting someone in a ga-garden." As hard as she tried, the part of her mind that never quite grew took over again, and once more, Sasami was what she should be, an 8-year old with normal emotions, not someone with the intellect and knowledge worthy of a Galaxy Academy graduate. Not just in politics and diplomacy but in other fields as well. However, being 'asleep' during all this warped her as well; Sasami's mind was too old for her personality.  
  
To add to all this turmoil, Sasami also has to deal with Tsunami's personality. Slowly they were becoming one, and Sasami was still scared by this. She was able to keep Tsunami in check, but she was getting more and more.aggressive, as if like her, Tsunami was learning how to be human. Also, Sasami knew the feelings of affection for Tenchi were not only hers, but Tsunami's as well, just as confused and intense as Sasami's. Sasami has still not endured the hormone surge accompanying puberty. So, Sasami was stuck in an awkward position, child and yet, also an ageless being at the same time. Possessing the persona of a child, and a vast knowledge of the universe around her at the same time. Most people would be envious, however, in Sasami's opinion; she still wished she was by herself. Plain old Jurai Sasami, Second Princess of Jurai, Heir Apparent, Apparent . heh, like I could ever have been normal. Sasami thought, Actually now, Tenchi, being Yosho's descendant, was 2nd in line and I'm shifted over to 4th. Not that it made a big difference.  
  
"Is this another one of those dreams Sasami-chan?" Tenchi asked her, beginning to get worried. Not again, as if things were hectic enough, there's another threat I have to deal with.  
  
"Uh, uh-huh, Tenchi, but . but you died! Some woman who loo-looked like the l-lady killed you!" Sasami stuttered out, her fear still getting the best of her, having Tsunami's influence suddenly missing from her thoughts unbalancing her.  
  
"Is this the same lady in your dreams Sasami-chan?" Tenchi queried, a little anxious at pushing Sasami too far. Oh great.this time she predicts two deaths.first it was just snatchings, now she has corpses.poor girl, Tenchi grimly thought to himself..  
  
Duh Tenchi, how can you can be so dense? Sasami's wits was now beginning to collect itself.  
  
"Yes, Tenchi, at least, it looked like her, she looked like she was from this country, except she had the Lady's face."  
  
"Hmm, tell you what, how 'bout you get some rest and you'll tell me all about it later, along with the rest of the family, is that good?" I'm sorry Sasami that you have to have these dreams, well, I guess we'll talk to Washu about it tomorrow. It was all Tenchi could think of to remedy the current situation. At least its not a lie, Tenchi tried to console himself.  
  
"Yeah, Tenchi-ni-chan, can I umm . " Sasami searched for words to ask permission to sleep next to Tenchi.  
  
"Eh, uh, of course you can stay here till morning.heheh." Tenchi said, and for some reason, he didn't feel too comfortable at seeing the blush Sasami now sported, Stop imagining things Tenchi.  
  
"T-thanks Tenchi-ni-chan!" Sasami replied, all her fears banished for the moment being and enjoying the idea of a sleep over with 'big- brother Tenchi.' As the Tsunami influence was still gone, Sasami was left to her own happy thoughts, even thinking about how she could use this as leverage against Aeka and Ryoko, already imagining the shock on their faces.  
  
Ah, it's so much fun getting those two all worked up! I had so much fun during Valentine's Day with them, and White Day is less than a week away. Score! Perfect prank opportunity, nah, maybe I should get more of ne- chan's jewelry, she does have those cute earrings I've been looking at . Sasami began to muse, the possibilities seemingly boundless in her mind.  
  
"Sami-chan? Anyone there?" Tenchi asked Sasami when she temporarily zoned out and he gently rapped his knuckles on her forehead like it a knocker.  
  
"Huh, oh yeah . say, what do you want to do hmm?" Sasami asked Tenchi, now in a happy mood.  
  
"Oh I don't know.say, it's hot in here-" Tenchi tried to say more but she cut him off.  
  
"Ehh . " Sasami blurted out confused, Wha-what does he mean by that, good thing I'm not Aeka or I would've fainted. Nah, she would've gone into another one of those fantasies of hers . Upon reaching that conjecture, Sasami shuddered.  
  
"I mean we should go outside with some sleeping bags and have a nice night out there with the stars. It's a nice view, and I bet it'll put you to sleep fast than some boring old ceiling." Tenchi said to her. I wonder why she's blushing like that? "The nights aren't cold anymore, so it's a good time to sleep out."  
  
Tenchi you dummy! Why must you be, so, so, so you?! Sasami said to herself, scarcely able to believe that someone could be that dense, Get a hold of yourself Sasami, you have no chance. for now.  
  
Tenchi went off to fetch the sleeping bags out of the closet while Sasami waited. Tenchi then went out onto the balcony to toss them out onto the field and he went back inside to get Sasami.  
  
"C'mon let's go down there Sasami." Tenchi said to her with a slight smile..  
  
"Okay, Tenchi-ni-chan!" Sasami replied, following Tenchi onto the balcony.  
  
"Close your eyes Sasami-chan," Tenchi told her with a playful smirk.  
  
Unknowingly, Sasami blushed as she complied with the demand. Tsunami's invading presence was back, not that it was unwelcome to her, but it felt awkward and Sasami didn't necessarily like the foreign emotions blending in with her own. Why is he doing this .   
  
"Ten-Tenchi-iaaah!" Sasami yelped as Tenchi suddenly picked up and held her like a small child , face to face with him. She knew she was safe in his arms, securing her with a hidden force Tenchi did not know he possessed, but Sasami, or Tsunami felt. "What, what are yo-aiee!" Tenchi vaulted off the balcony and onto the soft grass in a smooth landing, his knees bending to absorb the shock, gently putting Sasami on her feet.  
  
"Are you fine with this Sasami?" Tenchi asked her as he took their beddings and slung it over one shoulder and moved towards the deck. Using his other hand, Tenchi grasped Sasami's own and she clung to him as they walked towards their destination.  
  
"Just don't try that again!" Sasami said, trying to sound angry, but having a hard time hiding the happiness she felt.  
  
They arrived at the deck where Tenchi set up their sleeping bags and he tucked Sasami in. He saw her now, framed by the moon. Wow, carrot- jammies, how cute .   
  
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist. I won't let anything happen to you okay Sami-chan?" Tenchi assured Sasami to keep her from panicking and ruining what he felt would be a great opportunity for Sasami to enjoy the fresh night air. No, as long as I am able to, I will not let harm come to you.   
  
"Thank you Ten-chan!" Sasami said, happiness flooding her from his words, with no small part of it emanating from Tsunami as well. Then she realized what she called him, and she blushed.  
  
Unbeknownst to her, Tenchi had a different underlying meaning to those words. I have a great amount of thinking to do. About myself, the others, and what the future holds in store for us. Now, asides from my current worries, I have to take into account another of Sasami's visions, which never have failed me before. Tenchi began to sag as he felt familiar burdens coming down on him, but resolved not to let it show.  
  
"Ten-chan . has a nice ring to it. Tell you what, let's call each other by those pet names ok?"  
  
Sasami nodded, vigorously affirming her support of Tenchi's idea.  
  
"Good night Sami-chan, pleasant dreams only this time, alright?" Tenchi said, Sasami's own presence lightening his mood, echoing her own situation.  
  
"Alright," she giggled. "I promise. Ten-chan." And Sasami made good on that promise. Tenchi was her prince in shining armor; the same one that sustained him after Ryu-Oh's explosion. That specific form was something which only Sasami saw. Ryoko and Aeka: Eat your hearts out! In her dreams, she envisioned her prince trouncing all the potential suitors her father has lined up for her and Aeka. Sasami giggled in the plush bed she found herself in, "He is a prince, isn't he."  
  
"That he is child, and much, much more."  
  
"Tsunami?" Sasami found it hard to associate a voice she knew would be her own given time with another being, also something she would turn to.  
  
"Yes, Sasami?" Tsunami's tone was the same, yet it sounded motherly.  
  
"Could you turn the lights off?"  
  
Tsunami couldn't help but giggle at Sasami's parting remark. Sasami went to sleep in her own dream, curled up, content and safe in her bed back on Jurai. Quietly the Goddess exited the chamber, now bathed in darkness. In a fashion that would have given Her worshippers cardiac arrest, Tsunami giggled like a schoolgirl, her hands about her face, trying to match her irises' shade. "These emotions. why?" As it always was, while Tsunami had answers to many questions, no one had any for Her own. "Tenchi."  
  
*** 'Reflections of Heaven and Earth' ***  
  
As I took a quick break from watching the twinkling night sky, I notice that Sasami had stopped talking. Hmmm, I guess she must have fallen asleep right after I laid her down and tucked her in. Interesting, when I first saw her on Ryu-oh, she seemed like she was just a normal little girl. But, later to my surprise she revealed herself to be so much more.  
  
What the hell is it with the girls that I meet?  
  
I have to watch her though. Heh, I can't believe she caused so much grief for us when she pulled that prank using my dad's manga collection. Looking back on that I guess I can laugh, although I do wish Ryoko didn't kick me so hard. hnn, did Aeka really wait for me. that was weird, where did that one come from? Eh, at least that time I wasn't the direct target of her mischievous intellect. Then again, the 'Manga Incident' as I call it wasn't exactly lethal for me either.  
  
I should have known Sasami was like that when she asked me to steal her sister's little tiara-crown thing. I don't care how much she would have compensated me; it wasn't worth having two flying logs, trying running me down and kill me! On the bright side, Ryoko and I did get out alive, there's always that. Although I did question her sanity. wasn't it a little excessive to take Aeka down with us? Damn good thing there wasn't anyone on that bridge then.  
  
I look at Sasami's innocent face bathed in the moonlight glow, remembering something that bothered me about her. I used to think those nightmares of hers were just what they were, nightmares, not predictions of what could be. But ever since Zero came. Scary to think what goes on in Sasami's mind. I suppose the ability to see the future is a curse, especially in the way she sees it. Then again, from what she revealed to us all at the onsen, I suppose it shouldn't seem to strange.  
  
I wonder, what must that be like? Knowing that you will be much more than yourself at a certain point, that without it, you would have been dead a long time ago. That's it, I'm going to make it up to her somehow,  
  
During the Kagato crisis, I did have my suspicions. For example, how in the hell did Sasami get from Earth to Shoja? At first I put it over to her just being transported via Tsunami, but from what I've heard from Washu; Tsunami's been missing for a long time, possibly even longer than Sasami has been alive. If the two remaining heirs were sent off-world, probably for their own safety, far away from the dangers at court and the intrigues of politics, wouldn't they have placed them inside Tsunami instead? Being the Genesis treeship, as opposed to Ryu-oh, one of the offspring, wouldn't Tsunami had been the better choice? I saw that she had ten wings as opposed to Ryu-oh's three. I don't want to pry into their pasts, but was Tsunami even assigned to Sasami in the first place?  
  
Also, as she was talking to me, I saw that Tsunami did resemble Sasami. I mean, at the time I thought that was what Sasami would've looked like when she grew up. Strange how things turn out, note to self: don't piss off fate. At first I just thought she was a figment of my imagination, a product of my thinking of the girls, although it did scare me that I would see Sasami in that light, for a second there I thought I was some kind of pervert, and to think I thought my dad was bad. She was. and is. kawaaaaaaaaai, augh what am I thinking? Bad Tenchi, bad Tenchi.I've been a bad boy. heh, guess she's really grown on me.  
  
Hnnn, sort of sad that's she carried around that secret for how many years? If Yosho disappeared 700 years ago and Aeka-hime and Sasami existed then, just how old is Sasami? I find it hard to believe that someone so old could look and act so young. Maybe she's like Washu, nah, it doesn't seem right. I heard Ryoko complaining how Misaki-san mistook her for being Sasami. Hmm, maybe she was in stasis for part of that time, hnn.  
  
It looks like, all this thinking, it's going to be a long night, but for some reason my body just doesn't feel tired, oh well, I guess now's a good a time as any to think. I haven't really had an opportunity to do just that for a long time. Stargazing, I guess that's an appropriate way to meditate, considering my current situation.  
  
Wonder what that must do? Having another being in your body, and thinking one day you will be combined with them. Whatever, at least were there for her when that time does come. Then again, will I be there? I don't know about how Juraian's age, and my mother died young, will the same thing happen to me? Nothing brings out issues of mortality like when you encounter people whose lifespan makes yours look like a mayfly's in comparison.  
  
I used to look forward to living a nice eighty years, now I learn that Aeka's almost eight hundred.  
  
I remember an American song my father used to listen to, "How many years. can most people exist," yeah, how many, "before they're allowed to be free."  
  
Strange, they may spend years here, and yet to them, it may just be the equivalent of a weeklong vacation, till they pack up and move on. I wonder, will they remember me when they leave, if they leave? I don't want to thin about it, but I know that there's a strong chance of them leaving me. Hell, I wonder what the hell is holding any of them back? All of them have such bright futures, so talented, so special, why do they want to be near me?  
  
"How many times must a man turn his head, and pretend he just doesn't see." Yeah, how long can I just ignore it, I'm not blind, but dammit, how do I act?  
  
"The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind." Damn, for some gaijin, Peter, Paul, and Mary sure had an universal point.  
  
The thought of them leaving scares me, more so than when I had to fight Kagato. I fear losing them, I guess I just got too attached to them, more than they know. More than I fear letting them know  
  
What am I supposed to do, condemn them for being so lovable? I admit it, I fear being abandoned. again. I remember all too well when mother left me. As hard as I thought it was then, I wonder how my father felt? From what I hear from his co-workers and his family, he was a very different man when mother was still alive. It's interesting in a sad way to hear how father was then. It frightens and saddens me to see how father turned into a pervert how mother died. Well, at least that's how they view him. He just doesn't seem like it. I know he's just pushing me, hell, I'm amazed he isn't worried to death that I don't show much interest in Ryoko.  
  
Personally, although he does lay it on pretty thick, I think it's all an act. Maybe it's his shell, to show to the world that he has recovered and thrives. I think it's a shield, meant to push other's away, hell if one acted like a pervert, the less women will look at him, in a favorable light that is. Maybe that's his way of being faithful to mother. However, when he drinks with ji-san, I see the true him unwind. Usually he's so lighthearted, but when he touches the sake, he turns all grim and thoughtful. Morose I think is the word. Well, sadly, I never got to know mom as much as I wanted to, but, what's the phrase; 'there's no use crying over spilled milk' was it?  
  
What am I thinking.'as much as I wanted to', what the hell would I know? That sounds so damn cold, but she did take a chunk out of my heart when she left. Is there ever an age that isn't 'too young' for a child to lose their parent, unless that child is no longer a child, hell even then it would be awful, as it should be. Ever since she died, I never felt like I could really reach out to others, except for a handful of acquaintances, I never had a best friend, not if you don't count imaginary playmates I had as small boy, and even then I forget them. Whereas other boys stayed away from girls for silly reasons like they were simply different and they were possessed of some viral entity, I stayed away because I was afraid. Hah, an elementary-schoolboy afraid of getting hurt emotionally, no not like that, I was just afraid to get close to a girl, anybody really, and then have them leave, my pathetic little heart couldn't handle that really. Sure I talked about girls with the boys at school, but that was so they wouldn't pick me out and question me about it. Hell, I just let 'Little Tenchi's' thoughts come out then, not really mine.in a sense.  
  
Fuck, I remember. Mariya; I can't believe how stupid I was then. How could I have believed she would actually-argh, forget it, Tenchi, forget it.  
  
I guess I really lucked out, although they are a bit of a nuisance at times, I wouldn't give up what I had for the whole fucking world. I meant what I said to Kagato that day. Those weren't just words inspired by a testosterone surge or an adrenaline boost. I wasn't trying to be a man, I'm still a boy. It was the truth. I would rather die that forsake any one of them. Whatever they may do, I will always be there for them, until the day I die.  
  
Somehow, I don't think they would like knowing that. Ehh, what they know won't hurt them, I hope.  
  
Ever since they came, I've been. I've been happy! I never knew how lonely I was before I met them. Sure it was a satisfactory life before they came, but that's all it was, nothing really special about it. I care about Father and ji-san a lot, not just because they are my only close family, but since they have both tried their best in raising me.  
  
Ever since Mother died, ji-san has stepped in to help raise me, one of the ways being try to instill some character in me by working at the temple and of course, teaching me budo. Although when I first began, I didn't notice it, it seemed that Father seemed to bear a lot of guilt concerning me. I guess maybe that's why he pushes me towards the girls so much. Not so much friendly teasing, but sort of a means of amends for assumed bad fathering. I suppose that's a reason that he lets them stay here as opposed to letting them stay at the temple. He's really awful, but he's not hentai enough to actually tape the girls in their rooms. If he did.father or not. what am I thinking?  
  
A snort came out of me at the ridiculousness of such a thought. No, not if they get to him first and he wouldn't do that in the first place. But he does want them in close proximity to me, not for romantic purposes; although like most fathers he wants grandchildren to 'continue the line,' but sort of a surrogate family. Even after all this time, my mother still holds a strong presence in his mind. I guess that to have a bunch of sisters and as he keeps on pressing me, a future daughter-in-law, not simply fiancée is one of his solutions to filling up the vacuum.  
  
Damn, I wonder if that kind of dedication to someone is a gift, or a curse. Hell, I think I may have it.  
  
Ji-san I have a lot to thank for. If it wasn't for him needling me on that one day to stay away from the cave, this whole mess probably wouldn't have happened. I've asked myself a lot of things about this. One of them being, did he plan this intentionally? It was almost as if he knew not just what was in the cave, but who. I know he has this image and all everyone expects him to be, but even he should have been surprised by what had happened. I think he took this in stride a little too well. Father was confused at first but he quickly accepted Ryoko's story. I should confront him about this, no need thinking about issues like this, having it gnawing away at me when I can just get it over with and get my answers, and hopefully those answers won't pose even more questions. It's sort of annoying how I've gotten more paranoid lately, but judging from what's happened, I guess it can't really be helped.  
  
What's his real name? Jurai Yosho, sounds so different from Masaki Katsuhito. The lost prince of Jurai, and my grandfather; the Shinto priest. It just doesn't sound right.  
  
Hell, 'lost prince' my ass. From what I heard, it looks like Yosho ran away. Just like what I'm doing. I guess some things do run in the family. I can't help but feel he's just passing off his responsibilities onto me. Great, looking back on it, even though he ran away from the throne, he still did his duty. I was born, so there is an heir.  
  
I know I shouldn't be so bitter, but I can't help but be just a little pissed off, wouldn't anyone? I know he loves me as much as one can love their child, but this is still hard to bear. But, without him, none of this would have happened. Like it or not, everyone here, even Ryoko, owes ji-san something.  
  
He's groomed me to be his heir. I don't want it. But if it helps secure a future for the girls, I guess I have no choice. This is just weird, what is this, some twisted anime fairy tale or something?  
  
What's that sound? That just threw me off my track of thought. I turn to its general direction and I find that it's coming from Sasami. She snores, wow, that's a new one. The sight was sort of cute though, but still, oh well, at least its something I can tease her with, about time for some payback. I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. It was a near perfect scene really, too bad I didn't have a camera so I could save it for the scrapbook.  
  
Sasami lies there on her side in the sleeping bag zipped up to her wais , facing me. I savor the peaceful expression on her face and I ask myself why must she suffer these nightmares? I know the answer, yet I must still plead to whatever supreme beings there are out there on her behalf. One thing spoils this picturesque moment.  
  
Nah, screw perfect, this is just adorable. Her mouth was wide open and a glistening trail of. drool. I let out a soft laugh at that was running down her cheek. Oh my, the side of the Juraian Royal Family their followers never see, their human side. At that, I questioned myself again, hmm, or is it Juraian side, heh. My mind going blank I just continue to gaze at her face much in the same way I did the stars. "I wonder what kind of dream are you having little one," I ask her quietly, so I don't wake her. Is it the kind that you should have? Free of worries and things of the sort, filled with the stuff fairy tales are made of, it would be appropriate if you were perhaps, a princess and some prince in shining armor came along and saved you from some mean old witch? It was strange, almost as in response to this, her freckle-streaked cheekbones lit up in a mild pink hue. It couldn't be what I said, could it?  
  
As I look over the early morning fog engulfing the valley, the lavender folds of mist remind me of Aeka. It was weird meeting her for the first time. It wasn't much of a good impression, but after she stopped trying to kill me I'd like to think we hit it off. A lot of work went into loosening that princess up. Even away from the throne she seemed to be bound by her protocol. Sad once you think about it, she put all her chips on her 'Prince Yosho,' and what does he do? Run away to Earth, imprison Ryoko till I free her, and leave Aeka all alone on Jurai.  
  
It must have been harsh; Aeka is the shy type, to put it mildly. Still, it was very nice to see her open up to me in that shed. At first she comes off as a bitch, but once you go through all the formality, she really is a great person. However, out of respect I call her Aeka-hime, but she gets me back by calling me Tenchi-sama. Tenchi-sama. I like the ring of that, I always did want that honorific, although sometimes I swear she makes it sound. kinky.  
  
Whatever, that girl hides her feelings really deep down, but I don't think she has that many secrets, just hidden emotions. Unlike some of the other's she doesn't have a shell, but like the mist, she obscures her emotions from view. I guess that's a result of being royalty. Interesting, seeing as I am somehow a descendant of Yosho, does this mean I am now the crown prince? Strange, no way do I ever see myself being on a par with Aeka, unlike her sister who is so open.  
  
When I look at her, she seems so typical of the tragic princess figure, except she doesn't have a matching prince, I wonder what was Yosho thinking when he chose not to return? As if she wasn't isolated enough, one of the few people she opened up to leaves her behind. However, I can't really complain, seeing as it was my predecessor's actions that led to my encountering the sisters Jurai. I can't help but make her blush sometimes. It's such a beautiful sight when her cheeks redden, and all it takes is a compliment, or simply catching her off guard while she's daydreaming. I suppose it's only a matter of time before she has to leave and continue on with her duties, seeing as she is the oldest heir they know to be alive. except, thanks to Yosho's antics, I'm now the heir.  
  
That's sad, I'm first in line for the throne of an interstellar empire. Me, a country bumpkin among country bumpkins, a Prince of the Universe? Times like this, I really want to beat down ji-san.  
  
When Emperor Azusa came, that was a scare. It was funny seeing Aeka's reaction to her mom, although I still feel phantom pain around my ribs every now and then, that Misaki has a grip most men, no, bears would envy. I don't know why he didn't like me. He didn't even acknowledge me as his descendant, why though? Was it because his prodigal son ran off and started his own line without his personal permission? I don't think it's because I'm Terran, no, if it was, he would never have married Funaho-sama. Whatever, but for some reason, he scares me. He has the power to take them away from here, I don't know why that scares me, am I really so afraid of them leaving me behind here? Ugh, this is really beginning to muddle my thinking.  
  
Once more, I gaze at the stars, hoping to once again clear my thoughts as I tried to lose myself in Polaris. As I tried to once again lost myself in their humble, yet in truth, quite majestic nature, another star came to mind. That star was named Mihoshi. 'Beautiful Star' I muse to myself, such an appropriate name. She seemed to glow with her happy-go- lucky personality, to me, the times she actually did not have a smile on her face, or was in tears at some minor incident or perhaps having a perplexed expression was when I knew something was wrong. There are few things more indicative of something wrong than when Mihoshi has her professional face on. She may seem clumsy, but I've seen how competent she could be. Of all the GP that went after Kagato and actually engaged him, she is probably one of the literal handful who survived to tell the tale.  
  
Really, if she was so damn incompetent, how else could she have gotten into the Galaxy Police. I know Ryoko doesn't think too much of it, but if the Juraians respect it, that has to be something. Plus she's always come through for us, odd as it may look.  
  
While others call her bubble-headed, I call her carefree. Many times I thought it was just animal lust that drew me to her. But no, if I was that petty, I would have jumped on Ryoko and Aeka a long time ago. Of all the girls, I think it's safe to say she is the most like me. Not really that important in the scheme of things. We weren't famous, and in a way, it felt nice having someone whom you don't feel like your in their shadow.  
  
Although half the household seems to think she's an idiot, she's proven otherwise to me. I've went out on the town with her when I felt that it got too hot at the house for me. For example, when I knew that both Aeka and Ryoko were on the warpath, and frankly, there are times that I do not want to put up with it. I know I should be flattered that those two feel like I'm worth competing over, but I feel bad, because, regardless of what I do, if I even choose to do anything chances are, one or the other, maybe even both, will be hurt by my actions.  
  
Its weird too, I've seen Mihoshi look lost, I know I shouldn't pry, but dammit, what the hell is she hiding behind that 'ditz' shell of hers.  
  
I guess most guys would kill to be in my shoes, but frankly, I don't see what it is that they see in me. Sure, I may be Juraian royalty, and I posses the Wings of the LightHawk, but, does that really mean anything? It appalls me to think that in all their years of existence, for some reason, 'I' am the one they chose. Thankfully the conflict is limited to Aeka and Ryoko, but I've seen all of them 'looking' at me. Weird, never thought girls, much less them, would ogle me. Hell, lately Sasami's been quirky. I heard Mihoshi mention something about ji-san saying she would be a great wife. Damn it ji-san, my life is already complicated enough!  
  
I do feel a kinship with her. For one, I don't think she's that much more older than I am. Plus, I'll admit it; I'm a klutz too. I may not as bad as she is, but I'm clumsy nonetheless. Boy, my fingers will never let me live that one down, ever since then I've learned not to tempt fate. Damn those two jokers for egging me on, I guess we looked like the three stooges back then on that roof, all of us nursing our hammered hands. I guess she's the epitome of the 'Inner Child'. I let out a laugh at that one. I'm getting too sentimental I guess.  
  
Hmmm, but on the other side of the coin is Washu. She seems to be the polar opposite of Mihoshi. Whereas Mihoshi is very open, Washu is a. crab in a sense. It's near impossible to get through that damned shell of hers. First off, there's her obsession with being a child, while in truth, she's older than some of Earth's dead civilizations. Immediately after the Kagato crisis, when she decided to stay with us, I just thought she was an eccentric scientist who was a little too dedicated to her work. However, when Taro came over, boy did she prove me wrong. Interesting, what is she, a Renaissance woman? Greatest Scientific Genius in the Universe and Damn Good Mother in one, who would've known? Amazing, I'd be lying to myself if I didn't admit that I was jealous of Taro then.  
  
Is that what a mother and child really look like together? Is that really what Mother and I looked like back then? I don't know why, but I sense a great sadness in her. Much as she tries to hide it, the fact that she's like that is an obvious indication that she's hurting inside. Since when did I become so nosy?  
  
My glimpse into the 'Inner' Washu peaked when my aunt and uncle came by to pick little Taro up. That side of Washu was one I had never seen before and it damn near well broke my heart when she handed him over. The pain that I saw in her eyes, it was something that she had to relive. I remembered what she told me of her first child, and it must have opened up an old scar that has never really healed inside her. Before I had a chance to comfort her, she reverts to her scary lecherous woman act. Not that I was complaining of course, far from it on the inside, but it seemed just as she was bringing down all her walls, to save face she decided to pull that stunt. Of course the girls fell for it.  
  
That was an interesting experience, its embarrassing to think how she looked like then. Why does she choose to hide under that child's façade? Is she really so afraid of being an adult, or rather, being near adults, those who can hurt her. How deep down does she keep the 'real' Washu, all she does is isolate herself in her lab all day long and immerse herself in work. Of all the girls, she's the only one that doesn't sleep in the house. unless if its in my room. She is nice to have around as a person, her humor, although sharp, is a welcome addition to our party. Not like I have anything to compare it to before she came along. Although she doesn't seem to admit it, I think she really cares about us. Heh, knowing her, if she ever heard me say that about her she'll probably just drop a statue on my head. Either that, or. run me through another set of. tests. I shudder at the imagery suddenly flying through my mind. Is all those restraints necessary or is she just into S&M? Let me guess, another one of the ways she pushes people away to keep herself from getting hurt.  
  
What is she suffering from? Hedgehog's Dilemma. I guess it could be that. To save yourself from being hurt by betrayal and separation, you push others away. Because getting near others hurts you, it's a vicious circle.  
  
As I continue to juggle issues about Washu and motherhood around in my head, another subject comes into mind. Ryoko, strange, are those two really family? From what I've seen there's bad blood between them, and it doesn't seem like the other is willing to make a move towards the other. Hell, if it wasn't for Washu informing us, there's no way I would have believed those two shared blood, much less were mother and daughter. Well, I have to admit, the irrationality is there. Who knows. maybe they do have a lot in common, outside of the superficial things.  
  
However, Washu did come through for her daughter when that one-eyed octopus came over and tried to abduct Ryoko. The fact that he tried to have me killed did not infuriate me as much as the fact that he made Zero.or is it Ryoko now, I don't know, be my executioner. I know that Ryoko's watched me in my sleep before when her fears grew to great for her to ignore. But to make her commit such an act?  
  
It's only moments when my anger erases all other thoughts from my mind that I can actually access my power. Is this a boon, or a curse. To have such raw power, yet I can only harness it when I see red. Ji-san would have a field day burying me under all his platitudes if I revealed this to him. Strange, when they are in danger, it seems to me that nothing else matters. Maybe that mental toilet flush is what I need in order to summon the wings. Thanks to Aeka, and with some coaching from ji-san strangely enough, I'm able to easily utilize the Tenchi-ken and unleash the abilities my Juraian heritage gives me. But, it's only when one of them is threatened that I can summon those damned wings.  
  
I don't know, but for some reason, I guess being able to summon those wings makes me special to them. Washu claims to only stay on to study them, but that's just her way of saying that she likes it here I guess. For some reason, I sense that Azusa is angry at me for having that ability?  
  
Why, is it jealousy, that someone who has just recently learned of his heritage is so inherently powerful? Maybe it's because Azusa has never had the chance to influence me. Did he want to mold me to fit his agenda, to swear allegiance to him? I guess having the ability to wield the power of the tree-ships is a curse. Times like this I wish Tsunami has never unlocked whatever it is inside me that enables me to use those wings. Or perhaps its fear, fear that I might actually use my power, I don't know why he would fear me. I don't even know how to use it properly, I'm just winging it. Great, I made a pun. I need to talk to Aeka about my Juraian side so I could get some answers, yet I feel that I will only ask more questions.  
  
So long as the ones I love remain safe, if my family remains unharmed, I will not draw upon the LightHawk Wings. However, if they are threatened, I do not know what I will stop at to protect them, even if the price for their happiness comes at the cost of my life, or my humanity.  
  
Just listen to me go on about that in some dull monologue. I should get off that topic, its bad to brood on things like that. By now Ryoko would have glomped onto me and tried to cheer me up. Of course Aeka would have joined in, and Washu would be right there, either squeezing in, or adding fuel to an already raging inferno. I guess Ryoko is the first stage in the 'powder keg', so what does that make me, the detonator?  
  
At the thought of Ryoko, my face lights up. Hmm, for someone with that name, she seems more like an angel to me. I don't know why I'm getting sentimental, I guess it's the air I try to convince myself. Out of all of them, she was the first one I met. No, I don't mean when I unwittingly freed her from that cave, but I've felt that I've known her since I was a child. Weird, I sort of got a feeling of déjà vu after I met her, almost as if it wasn't the first time.  
  
All my life I've been interested in that cave. I even used to play there as a kid. I wonder, how Ryoko would react if she knew that I remembered her later on. We both overreacted on that night.  
  
It was weird though, it scared me at first after seeing Ryoko like that. As if it wasn't bad enough she went after me at school. But, on the bright side, I do have her to thank for that 'extended' vacation. Its strange how someone can go homicidal to manipulating and then finally to affectionate in such a short period of time. At first I thought she was just a joker, but later I saw more of her inner self. How could anyone like her commit the crimes she has been accused of is beyond me. Sure she's super-powerful, but she's harmless in her own way. Then Kagato came, that pretty much explained a lot of my questions. That surprised the hell out of me when he took control of Ryoko.  
  
For all the 'joie de vive' she displays, she's just a little girl inside. I've seen it when she loses control. Not control of her anger, but control of her mask. I wonder how many nights have I spent sleeping in my bed with her hovering just feet away, having to be there to assure that I was still there, that HER Tenchi was still there for her. I should act, but I'm too much of a coward to do anything, because to choose one would be to hurt the others.  
  
This is sad, I conquer the fear of challenging like Kagato, but its already been half a year and more and I still pretend that the issue doesn't exist.  
  
I know I love them all, but I don't know exactly what kind of love it is, for someone who can't even drive yet, I'm talking about bonding myself to those who live for millennia? I think it's just a familial love, but they seem to want more from me. I know I am dense, but I can only go for so long before reality gives me a kick in the ass. I pray that I find a solution to my problem, before I wake up one day to find the carnival has gone, having packed up and departed during the night.  
  
My eyes once again go skyward, this time tracing the path of a falling star. I remember something in English my mother once taught me, one of the few things I remember.  
  
"Twinkle twinkle little star How I wonder what you are."  
  
However, before I can continue on with the next line the star seems to get closer and closer, and soon I see a spheroid glow. It was at this point that I recognize what that star was. It was the Yukinojo, and sure enough, it was inbound at a steep approach angle. I wonder if Mihoshi forgot to engage the autopilot again. Once again, I give a small laugh at the irony. Well, who knows, the engines look like they're idle. Hopefully Yukinojo takes some initiative and try to land safely.  
  
"Great, doesn't she usually just hyperspace the ship to just above the lake," I groaned, figuring it out. "Looks like she rode that thing all the way from orbit"  
  
However as it was almost to its favorite 'landing' site at the lake the ship reoriented itself and fired up its sleeping engines. I held my breath, would she make it this time? I could see the beeline path it was on slowly change into a curved trajectory. As she came in closer, I would have expected her to angle her nose into a shallow angle of attack. Instead however, she was still at a -15* angle, what was she doing? Then it hit me, I remember Mihoshi talking to me about flying one day, and she indulged me. If she simply tried to pull up, her inertia would still carry her downwards. However, if one built up enough momentum, she could harness that and use it to her advantage. It was only a couple of seconds later but I could see Mihoshi was going to impact on the other side of the lake at this rate. I noticed that even so, she would still skid onto the surface at high speeds.  
  
Then Mihoshi, or maybe Yukinojo did something I didn't expect. She went into a half-roll and I saw the engines flare into overdrive. Instead of overshooting the lake and crashing into the forest, Yukinojo slashed into the lake, still in the process of completing its roll. Wow, I never knew Mihoshi knew how pull a Split-S. However, she had so much inertial force that instead of flipping, she plowed through slowly righting herself in a tight spiral before settling down to a shaky level approach. As she came barreling along the lake at water level, I noticed that the pressure wave she created parted the lake like the Red Sea.  
  
At this point I started to clap lightly in appreciation of her feat. She finally pulled a Pugochev's Cobra to kill speed and she fired her braking thrusters to come to a stop. However, her engine cluster slammed onto the shore in front of the house before she came to a complete stop. Fortunately she was only going a few hundred kilometers and the water finally caught up to Yukinojo. Still however, the poor ship ended up rolling. and rolling, tumbling up and down, until it's port wing finally embedded itself onto the ground and after tilling the earth for several yards, the ship came to a stop, the groan of overstressed metal could be heard, almost as if Yukinojo was alive. and in a great deal of pain.  
  
Taking a quick look at Sasami to see that she was still as she was just moments ago, and the slight commotion the 'landing' caused didn't wake her up, I dashed towards Mihoshi's ship. If it wasn't so dangerous in nature, I would have appreciated the water show provided by this. But, at the moment, I was concerned about Mihoshi, the shore looked like some 4x4s with blades for wheels went hog-wild on it. I ran past the gate trying to reach Yukinojo as fast as I could. I saw that our resident logs, Azaka and Kamidake were ahead of me, hovering towards the crash site.  
  
As I closed, I noticed something that sent another shard of fear into my heart, Yukinojo was inverted. What amazed me was that seeing as much damage as it took, nothing on the ship seemed warped, much less destroyed. Yet even with all this, Kagato was able to turn an entire fleet of them into their base elements within seconds of engagement. The memory of that combat footage Mihoshi showed me frightened me even more than I already was now. As the logs and I reached Yukinojo, we tried to figure out a way to upright it. Before common sense took over and I went back into the house to summon the girls for help, Azaka and Kamidake went into action. They used their forcefields to shift Yukinojo. However, the ship stubbornly remained embedded in the earth.  
  
I focused my mind and I drew upon my Juraian heritage. With the help of the ring Aeka gave me, I transformed into what I call 'battle-mode', a throwback to all the mecha shows, both animated and live-action, that I saw as a child, and I admit, they still hold a special place in my mind. Trying to throw off the seriousness of the situation, I decided to clown around. As I proceeded to help the two logs trying to lift Yukinojo up, I pulled a triangle shape with my arms with the vertex at the top of my head. With a 'SU-WATCH!' I used my augmented abilities to raise Yukinojo and upright it. As I settled her down gently onto the ground, I once again lost my jovial attitude.  
  
Still garbed in brown and skin tinted gray with my markings, I practically ripped the hatch off and I bounded into the ship. I saw Mihoshi slumped back against her pilot couch, and she looked like she was on the verge of unconsciousness. I hurried to her, going over her, trying to find any injuries that should have happened. I felt a great weight come off my back as I saw that there was nothing wrong with her, and Yukinojo popped out of his niche like a broken jack-in-the-box to assure me that she was alright. As I slipped my hands under her petite form to get her out of the ship, she mumbles something. I lean in close to hear what she's saying.  
  
".my prince." Mihoshi drowsily got out before she succumbed to the call of slumber.  
  
I decided to take her back with me to the deck. As I walked towards the house, cradling Mihoshi in my arms Azaka and Kamidake offered their assistance. I waved them off, thanking them for their earlier help and I continued on to the house.  
  
I look down on her face, into her carefree slumber. What are you dreaming about Mihoshi? 'My Prince'. I just hope you have a 'happily ever after, the end.' too in there. Although I should no better, sometimes I think as if you are still a child. So innocent, so carefree, but how much of that is an act, and how much of it is really you?  
  
. Heh, nice to know those logs here have a place in this family besides as gateposts or 'intercom' systems. The Juraian fascination for arboreal things is something. It was interesting to see Aeka and Sasami's storage system. I suppose if we ever needed money we can make our own little business out of producing those kinds of storage units. It is kind of cute if you ask me, maybe those naturalist freaks will love those hollow logs. Well, if I ever need an idea for a get-rich-quick product, I know what I'm going to pitch.  
  
As I laid her down in my sleeping bag next to Sasami, I noticed some things again. For one, how close the two looked. Like Sasami, Mihoshi had the kid-like charm, packed into an adult body. Lying there, snoring in synchronization with Sasami, I couldn't help but laugh, albeit gently, at what I saw and heard. Looking down on her elfin features, even more so than Ryoko, I snuck a quick kiss on Mihoshi's exposed cheek, and to my surprise, I head her giggle in her sleep and say 'Tenchi'. I was still thrown off from earlier, and this sent me further off-track. I even forgot that I was still 'enhanced'.  
  
Looking back on tonight I think to myself that maybe insomnia isn't such a bad thing after all. There still is a few hours before dawn arrives. I have more time to think on things, on the past, the present, and the future. There's never a dull moment in this household, and even in the dead of night, things happen. Yet, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't believe it, I'm not even old enough to drink, and I'm already sentimental.  
  
I chuckle at another memory that popped into my head. It was when I was playing with an imaginary friend I ended up hurting myself because I forgot that imaginary friends couldn't catch you. Stupid things one does as a child, then again, thinking about my companions, again I remember that I am an infant to them. You still have a long way to go Tenchi, a long way to go.  
  
*** Ryoko's Nightmare ***  
  
In Kagato's chamber aboard Shoja, Ryoko regained awareness. As she tried to recover from her drunken stupor, more and more of her surroundings' details became apparent. Then, Ryoko saw...herself! What the hell...  
  
Off to the side, the a battle-worn Ryoko was slumped over to one side, trying to ignore her injuries and instead, focusing on something else. While Ryoko was still gathering her wits about her, she did what most people would've done, followed her doppelganger's gaze. The sight that greeted her forced a gasp out of Ryoko.  
  
Out on the chamber's floor was Kagato himself, the bastard who was responsible for so much of her pain, and the pain of so many others. Ryoko's eyes blazed with fury, her cat-like eyes lighting up, pronouncing their amber glow. Instinctively she summoned her 'armor,' and with a battle-cry went into action. Following the transformation, Ryoko extended her arm, and fired a crimson bolt of energy she summoned from another plane. As Ryoko began to teleport to begin her assault, she noticed her projectile had gone through Kagato and dissipated harmlessly onto the floor, causing no apparent damage. Ryoko noticed that it hadn't elicited a single bit of attention from Kagato.  
  
Why... unh... that's right, dream Ryoko, it's a dream! Ryoko discovered her current situation. and she rapped her forehead with her knuckles as she thought it through.  
  
As she tried to calm herself down and at least try to figure out what to do, Ryoko saw the third of the other occupants in the chamber.  
  
Tenchi! There was no mistaking his presence. From his bearing, to his aura, and even his scent, it all radiated 'Tenchi.'  
  
The flames of rage burning inside was instantly doused when she this boy. Whereas Kagato has inflicted only pain upon her, Tenchi was different. As he stood there, with his face set in a stoic glare at his opponent, Ryoko could not help but be elated. Standing there on the floor, in full battle regalia, was her version of the knight in shining armor.  
  
Someone, finally Ryoko had someone who cared about her as a person, not as a tool, not as a monster. It was Tenchi, who willingly went after her, when he could have easily forsaken her and went on with his life. He went on, knowing that he was heading into a trap. Never in her two millennia of existence has she met anyone so kind. Finally, there was someone who was willing to sacrifice himself to save her. Even in sparing her life, Yosho had damned her to an uncertain future as a prisoner of that foul cavern, locked in eternal limbo. Then, Tenchi came and freed her from centuries of the dormant hell she endured, trapped in purgatory. Even after Ryoko 'tested' him, he accepted her into his life, albeit reluctantly at first, but she liked to think she grew on him...  
  
With Tenchi never expecting anything of her, Ryoko was content, strange, for all that she was capable of, she was satisfied of the quiet life she enjoyed on Earth, simply existing, not having to worry about fighting, or killing, or anything else for that matter, no problems more serious than how to avoid doing chores and no confrontation more threatening than her regular bouts with Aeka. Heh, for a princess, I guess she's not so bad, damned if she'll ever hear that from me though.  
  
Her main conflict in life was now to joust for the affection of the boy she whole-heartedly loved, not trying to stay alive, or destroying a target, or enduring Kagato.  
  
While Ryoko was thinking, the characters in her dream came to life. Kagato began to talk to Tenchi, gloating, trying to provoke the Terran into action. Her doppelganger was pleading to Kagato, Ryoko remembered doing that, to spare Tenchi's life...  
  
Before Ryoko could do anymore, signs of increased activity froze her into simply spectating, as she believed that it would be a repeat of the actual event.  
  
Come on Tenchi, nail his ass! Ryoko didn't bother to voice her thoughts, seeing as no one but her could hear them anyway. She had all too much experience with these kind of lucid dreams.  
  
Both swordsmen nodded at each other and went into their own stances. They were still for a few seconds, which Ryoko thought to be minutes instead, waiting for the calm to be broken by the savagery of the final clash of the two combatants.  
  
Tenchi was the first to lose his cool. However, instead of performing a battle cry, he began to jog towards his opponent in a lazy jog. He placed his right hand immediately under the guard of the LightHawk Sword as he ran. It looked like he would wait until the final few seconds until he shifted into an offensive grip so as to maintain some surprise. Although as he began to close he point his sword across him, with the edge facing Kagato, as he continued to run Tenchi kept rotating his forearm, so as to provide a faster strike when he engages Kagato.  
  
Kagato on the other hand simply stood his ground. He placed one foot ahead of the other when he twisted off to the side and shifted his weight to the back as if to absorb and the impact or to provide a launch platform for a counterattack.  
  
Tenchi finally placed his left hand under his right yet he still kept the sword pointing in at Kagato's face, lateral to his shoulders. He wasn't aiming for an uncertain slash, he was going simply for a thrust, or a cut, depending on how he finds a way into Kagato's defense.  
  
However, Kagato would not play Tenchi's game. As the boy inexorably closed in on him, Kagato extended his other arm and a hail of jade shards flew at the boy. Instead of dodging, the boy simply plowed through, the barrage seeming to have no effect on him. Kagato then shifted his aim onto Tenchi's path instead. Tenchi began to lose his momentum as he struggled to deal with an unseen and changing path.  
  
At this point Ryoko started to get nervous.  
  
Hey! This wasn't how it happened.  
  
Other things increased her fear. Her memories, those of Kagato. How he fought, no matter if he's outclassed, let him control the length of the battle and he will always win. Ryoko has seen firsthand what Kagato was capable of when he fought his own battles. The first match with Tenchi and Yosho was a probe, to analyze his enemies, and he pulled out and waited for them to come to him. That was his strategy, don't fight a battle you can't win, wait for another opportunity and that time let your enemy do the work for you. Her revelations smashed into her, she herself had used the same tactics when she was still under his control. Ryoko's blood went cold and as she tried to close her eyes and convince herself to wake up, yet, even in the dark, in her mind's eye she could still see the seen in absolute clarity, Tenchi was now only a handful of seconds away.  
  
Kagato's change of targets also had another effect. While seemingly random, Kagato placed them in a way so as to make Tenchi follow a predetermined path. Also, the clouds of debris caused by the explosion prevented Tenchi from seeing his quarry, so he was forced to slow his speed.  
  
As Ryoko's horror grew, the scene that should have been akin to the cliché fly-bys in the samurai soaps she watched at home changed into an act of chaos. Kagato took this opportunity to move over to a position right next to the route he predicted Tenchi would take. By now, Kagato had stopped firing, so as to not give away his position.  
  
Kagato then swung his sword into the cloud and she was surprised to see him frown, then curse momentarily later as he phased into another spot. Her heart, which was in her throat at this point returned to its niche as relief flooded her system. As Kagato phased however, a lock of gray her fell away. Looking to see what caused it, Ryoko's heart almost leapt out again, this time for another reason.  
  
Glowing through the haze of marble dust was HER Tenchi. The same Tenchi that risked everything and returned from death to save her. She figured that Tenchi, when confronted with the loss of vision, had decided to hop over it and try to find his bearings. I guess some of Yosho rubbed off on him.hnn, never thought I'd thank him for anything.  
  
As Tenchi landed and sidestepped into a clear area, Kagato disappeared again. Tenchi immediately rotated his grip on the LightHawk Sword so it was now held like a dagger offset to the side and he backpedaled into a clockwise spiral, cleaving the air around his flank, the aura of the sword leaving a crescent trail that burned in the air, sending a wave of what could only be ki as its wake. Ryoko was grateful for whatever Tenchi had learned in fighting her that night at his school. The boy, although he did not look it, was indeed a warrior. He anticipated Kagato.meaning.  
  
Her thoughts cut off as she saw a 2-meter long slab of emerald light materialize in the arc of Tenchi's slash. Kagato, who was dealing what Tenchi thought the final strike was forced on the defensive by Tenchi's pre- emptive reaction. Kagato pivoted his blade up so as to have the best coverage area in blocking the boy's sword. Whereas the Sword of the LightHawk would have severed Kagato's smirking head from his body, it bit into Kagato's sword instead.  
  
Unlike the Tenchi-ken, the LightHawk Sword had a solid blade, something Tenchi was familiar with, as he was now reunited with the strangely comforting weight of the blade tugging down. Instead of 2 different sources of energy deflecting off each other had Tenchi wielded the sword that bore his name, or rather whose name he bore. As they met, Kagato's blade was diffused by the crystalline blade much like how light passing into a prism is. However, instead of the spectrum appearing, the energy released by this action created a blast that blew the combatants back away from each other.  
  
Hnn, stalemate. Ryoko thought, while she was relieved that Tenchi was doing well, she was also wary of the length of the battle. 'The more time Kagato has, the less time Tenchi has to live.' Ryoko knew that Kagato did not fight in the moment, like in the game 'Go' that Tenchi taught her, planned his moves well ahead of time, even to the point of anticipating his opponents move, and compensating accordingly. Personally, Chinese checkers suits it better, much simpler, yet just as complex. heh, I gotta play Sasami more often, Tenchi and Aeka are just too easy to psych-out.  
  
The two were once again at a deadlock, calmly collecting their energy while again waiting for one of them to break the silence and continue their duel. At this rate, Tenchi will win, but. Kagato doesn't even seem worried in the least. It's almost as if he's. enjoying this.  
  
For a moment this struck fear into Ryoko's heart, knowing Kagato for so long, she knew that he enjoyed toying with is opponents, especially those who could be a threat to him, those who were a worthy challenge. But Kagato wasn't smiling anymore, he was pissed. Heheh Tenchi! Nail the bastard! In another drop in what seemed to be a roller coaster of emotions, Ryoko took note of Kagato's anger. In the time I've spent with him, I've never seen him so furious, no one lived long enough to do that to him. until Tenchi and Yosho at least. She wondered at how that will affect Kagato's anger. Will it force him into being sloppy, or will he focus his rage at Tenchi and use it as a weapon instead.  
  
Whilst Ryoko was wholly absorbed in the battle, resigning to the fact that she was unable to do anything in this disturbingly realistic nightmare of hers, trying to convince herself that it wasn't real, even if all her senses, including her sixth, were telling her otherwise. Mind over matter Ryoko.or some crap like that. Ryoko tried to tell herself that it was just like the programs she watched on television along with the other girls of the house. In retrospect, Ryoko would muse, television time was one of the few times everyone, rather everyfemale was together that there was no conflict.strange, heh, sorry Tenchi, even for you I won't leave my soaps behind!  
  
This time, it was Kagato who severed the tension between them, breaking the silence. He began by unleashing yet another barrage of his jade bolts which once again showered the area all around Tenchi. While his opponent was still obscured by the debris cloud, Kagato took to the air and shifted some of his fire into the ceiling. While Tenchi was still unseen, layers of the ceiling began falling, the tektite plates raining down. As the large plate of ceiling crashed onto the devastated floor, the wind caused by this scattered the dust and it was showed that Tenchi was nowhere to be seen. To Ryoko, it seemed that yet again, HER Tenchi beat Kagato at his own game again. Using the very same thing meant to hobble him, Tenchi used it as a smokescreen for his movement. Instead of aiming for Kagato this time, Tenchi aimed for his weapon.  
  
Ryoko tried to figure out what Tenchi was thinking, then it came to her. ".Kagato's blade can still harm him, but if he destroyed it again, Kagato would be open, oh yeah.how come I didn't think of that?" Ryoko said to herself as she smacked her palm against her forehead. Using the side of her that she acquired from years on the battlefield, she realized that by disarming Kagato, Tenchi would be removing any threat to himself, but Tenchi needs to finish off Kagato. Although the LightHawk Armor effectively neutralized any projectiles and beams lobbed at him, Kagato's primary weapon might be of some harm to him. Something else popped into mind. Shit! Tenchi doesn't know what the wings can handle! Ryoko remembered Kagato's extensive obsession on the wings of the Light Hawk and their capabilities. Thanks to that, she ended up getting defeated by one Juraian prince who used her as his method of escaping his responsibilities and condemning to a silent hell for an undetermined period of time before being freed by HER Tenchi.  
  
As Tenchi was once again about to crash into Kagato, his opponent broke off and started phasing to random spots. Kagato constantly harassed Tenchi with his non-stop flurry of projectiles, never inflicting damage, but the distraction was just as lethal as actually contact. Tenchi seemed to be taking the barrage in stride, using it just as Kagato was. With his armor's augmentative abilities, Tenchi scaled into the air after Kagato. Like Aeka, he had limited flying abilities when he was in battle-mode. Unlike Aeka, Tenchi was did not know how to properly utilize them. Yet, the LightHawk Armor helped enhance his abilities. However, Tenchi was still forced to land every now and then. Not as much as to recharge, but to have better leverage and not be caught in mid-air.  
  
This immediately sent warning bells into Ryoko's mind. Dammit, no, you have no leverage in the air, force him onto the ground! Tenchi was playing right into Kagato's hands at this point. Come on you sonovabitch, make a mistake, make a mistake!  
  
As the battle rages on, Tenchi dashing through the air, trying to intercept an eluding Kagato, the third person in the room makes herself known. As Kagato was busy playing 'warp tag' with Tenchi, the dream Ryoko was recovering from her injuries. Tenchi continued to use his augmented strength to leap up the ceiling, inverting himself so he landed feet first, crouching, before rocketing back down.  
  
Ryoko once again looked at her counterpart, 'how close did I come to death then..?' Ryoko asked herself, shaken at seeing how mangled she was that day aboard Shoja.  
  
Of all the defeats she had suffered, Ryoko feared this one the most. The others all that she had to lose was her life, a life empty, serving as a puppet. Reflecting back on it, Ryoko would have considered it a mercy to be dispatched then, a quick death, rather than the purgatory she experienced. But, now, Ryoko had something to look forward to. Its name was Tenchi, Masaki Tenchi-now Jurai. At her final role in the battle, Ryoko begged for Tenchi's life. begging for a mercy she had never asked for nor received in battle before.  
  
This Ryoko, the defeated Ryoko, had been watching the two all along tried to help Tenchi. Gathering all her remaining strength, the battered Ryoko outstretched her arm, immediately, she had to brace it with her other hand, tears were running down her face not from fear, nor joy, but from the agony caused by her face-off with Kagato. Blood trickled from the edges of her mouth; Ryoko had bitten the insides of her cheek. As she saw 'herself' try to help, Ryoko could not help but wince in sympathy at her counterpart's efforts. C'mon Ryoko, force Kagato onto the ground where Tenchi can finish him off!  
  
As every crimson bolt fired from Ryoko's hand jerked her arm back, as if they actually had recoil, so did they attract Kagato's attention. Fortunately for Tenchi, Kagato was unknowingly phasing ever so closer to the ground, so Tenchi exposed himself less and less on his seemingly impotent aerial assaults. However, Ryoko's double was unable to defend herself should Kagato shift his attention to her, luckily Tenchi was still forcing him on the defensive, although Kagato kept on trying to go on the offensive, he and his blade had to evade the LightHawk Sword.  
  
"Shit, he doesn't look pissed anymore, what's he going to do." Ryoko muttered as she hovered in between the duelers and her dream-counterpart.  
  
Suddenly, her memories once again made themselves known. No.  
  
As if reading her mind, Kagato did something that Ryoko should've seen before. It was a card that Kagato had already played, but had found its way back into his hand.  
  
Above and slightly behind her dream-counterpart, Kagato's shadow re- appeared. Although it would've been useless against either opponent in a stand-up fight, this worn-down Ryoko was in no shape for combat. Ryoko's dream-counterpart kept on firing, oblivious to the grinning Kagato behind her, blade drawn, about to run her through in the next moment.  
  
However, Tenchi saw this all this unfold. His face contorted, and for a moment, Ryoko saw Kagato in Tenchi. It was a sight she would try to forget, something she would bury. Two things that were mutually exclusive cannot be the same, Ryoko would not acknowledge it.  
  
"No, Tenchi, don't! I'm not worth it!" Ryoko impotently yelled at Tenchi, the fact that she could not interact with the characters forgotten in the heat of the moment. Somewhere along the line, Ryoko had forgotten that it was not real, and had fully immersed herself in the playground of her subconscious.  
  
Alas, almost as if he heard her, yet being Tenchi, he still reacted. Instantly the flowing robes of the LightHawk covering him reverted back into two wings. The one on his sword arm shot through towards the doppelganger through Kagato.  
  
Although to most Kagato would seem foolish for putting himself in a position where Tenchi could see what he was doing, Ryoko knew the truth. All along, Kagato had used her, always a tool. First to find Tsunami, second to lure Tenchi and the rest to his Shoja, and now, the tool for 'disarming' Tenchi. He already had Tsunami in his grasp, now to tie up any loose ends.  
  
Kagato easily dodged this and phased out of sight, Tenchi now transformed his second wing on his left arm into an elliptical shield. It was an offensive weapon all the same. With it, being molded past and in front of the curve of his forearm, Tenchi could strike just as well as defend. However, now he had no body armor. Unbeknownst to Ryoko, Tenchi had no experience in shields, except that now he was forced to rely on them as both offensive and defensive tools. In other words, for some reason, the Tenchi in her dreams was learning on the fly.  
  
First Tenchi had to adapt to the non-linear and immaterial nature of energy weapons, now he had to apply what knowledge he had into using them as a defensive measure as well. Kenjutsu, for all its potency, is a limited art.  
  
A millennia of having a permanent set of weapons lead to a solid, rigid form of using those weapons.  
  
In other words, the ferality and barbarity of fighting. had been civilized. It had become stylized. This would hobble Tenchi, who was now trying to tap into his primal instincts, where savagery and ferocity, and pure practicality took precedence over style and form.  
  
The doppelganger was dumbstruck as she saw Tenchi dissipate his armor and one wing come flying at her. Before she knew it the wing flew past her...  
  
Instinctively dream-Ryoko twisted and followed the path of the wing, to see what caused Tenchi to do such a thing. When she saw just exactly 'what' the reason one, her look of shock matched that on Ryoko's face upon seeing the shadow of Kagato annihilated by sphere-turned wing that Tenchi propelled towards her, his sword so close to her body now that she could feel the heat emanating from the emerald blade. Even as he 'died', he had the bastard smirk on his face that confirmed Ryoko's fears.  
  
As the battered Ryoko whirled around to see what she missed in those precious moments, she saw the effects of Kagato's ploy. Tenchi was now on the ground kneeling, the curved LightHawk Shield raised above him, pivoting to meet the ever-shifting approach vector of Kagato's jade rain, Tenchi shuffling and moving in short bursts.  
  
Tenchi tried to summon his wing back towards him, but Kagato would not have it. As the ball of energy collected itself into the familiar elliptical shape, this time some of the remaining automated sentries dropped down from hatches in the ravaged ceiling and engaged Ryoko. However, this time she was prepared, she painfully rose up and began to dodge their attacks, occasionally returning fire whenever she got the energy.  
  
Although given enough time, even in her current state, this weary Ryoko could've won. But, Kagato's shadow once again rematerialized. She was forced into an increasingly defensive battle. Having no other option Tenchi tried to make his way over to her to help her. Kagato himself then decided to direct his fire towards her. Finally losing what little calm remained, Tenchi let out a snarl of frustration, breaking free of all that he had been taught about contrl. He immediately redirected his efforts into engaging Kagato and manipulated the separate wing into protecting Ryoko.  
  
Several of the dozen sentries were down by this point, but the rest were still grinding down on Ryoko. Although the Shadow Kagato was just a weak projection of the true Kagato, at Ryoko's current state, the Shadow was a dangerous threat to her. At this point however the wing stopped blocking Kagato's barrage and went in close to protect her.  
  
In a move that surprised Ryoko it fused into her right forearm, extending into a 4 meter long slice of light. It extended from the top of her wrist a good three meters while the rest provided a good shield. Regaining her feral smile, Ryoko curved in on her opponent. It was like Tenchi's shield, except much narrower, yet radiating an aura.  
  
Having lost the full body protection that helped sustain him in vacuum, Tenchi reluctantly went on the defensive. Trying to imitate Aeka once again, Tenchi used his new shield to project a pulse wave directed onto the floor. The result was a shockwave that raised all the debris that had settled onto the floor, blanketing the entire chamber as if volcanic debris spewed in. Cursing, Kagato phased over to his losing Shadow and concentrated on Ryoko instead.  
  
Silently, Tenchi blew through the air making a beeline for Kagato. He anticipated this and the old game of hit and run started anew. Except Tenchi was now more reckless, constantly adapting, constantly changing, the only thing Ryoko could see predictable was his rapid cycling of evolutionary tactics.  
  
The last of the sentries had fallen and the Shadow was finally bisected by a rapidly weakening dream-Ryoko, the temporary adrenaline boost she experienced suddenly dying down. The wing grafted onto her arm began to transfer energy back to her, but this Ryoko was weary of it.  
  
The debris had once again diffused, dust still in the air. Now Ryoko and Tenchi had linked-up and began to move in on Kagato. together.  
  
Finally, Kagato decided to stop. This startled the observing Ryoko. What is that bastard planning? Oh no, he's going to pull something. Ryoko stared into Tenchi's face again, seeing his eyes flicker to her double, at her arm and back at himself. Good, take back your wing Tenchi! But, as if to spite her, Tenchi shook his head, almost as if he could see her, but actually raging against himself.  
  
It hit the spectating Ryoko. Tenchi let her double keep the wing. for it would protect her. Never mind that it might be over faster if he took down the worn-down Kagato now, Tenchi would not risk Ryoko being exposed again, Kagato's earlier strikes at her still burning in his mind's eye.  
  
Therein lied Kagato's strategy. The scheming bastard has struck again. Ryoko shook her head, not wanting to believe what all her battle- savvy told her.  
  
Ryoko and Tenchi now dove in at Kagato, hoping to finish him off, thinking that he was finally spent of energy. Tenchi drove at Kagato head- on, while Ryoko would be sideswiping Kagato with both her slice-wing and ruby rod.  
  
As Ryoko came in, Kagato fired a blast he had charged up into the floor before her path. The impact sent her off course, both from the physical force and the debris once again thrown into the air. It was harmless, but Ryoko instinctively evaded rather than block w/ her loaned wing.  
  
Kagato lined his hilt up parallel to his forearm and surged forward, almost as if the two were on a joust. Tenchi, having too much inertia to break off, simply lowered his head and continued on, the shield now angled away from his body, ready to shift positions to counter anything Kagato does, rotating in lazy circles, a half-moment from transferring its momentum and potential energy into a parry. or a strike.  
  
Two more meters before contact, Kagato places his left hand under his blade to provide stability.  
  
A single pace now, Tenchi tenses.  
  
As Kagato plunges his emerald blade in a lateral motion, Tenchi leaps into the air and following his grandfather's example proceeds to run down Kagato's blade.  
  
As The LightHawk comes slashing down in a diagonal arc going to the left, Kagato put his left hand into action and raised it in front of him.  
  
Another emerald bar of light makes an appearance. However Ryoko doesn't notice this immediately from her position just behind and above Tenchi as she finally gained enough control to follow him and see it through to the end, what she saw was a crescent. After that she saw the blade's handiwork. It ran through Kagato and exited as if Tenchi had swiped at air.  
  
The curving thrust cut across Kagato's left bicep, chest, and ending at his right torso. Both Ryoko's for some reason still held their breath. This was because instead of landing 20 feet away as he should have in her samurai soaps, Tenchi jerked into Kagato's left fist.  
  
At first they simply thought he had the wind knocked out of him.  
  
Tenchi fell back and staggered. All three wings dissipated into the surrounding air, the calming presence that throbbed from her right wrist was gone.  
  
Kagato simply stood still, and then he smiled, a benevolent smile, no, a patronizing one.  
  
"Stupid boy...." After those words, Kagato dissipated onto a non-existent breeze, turning into dust from the slash.  
  
Tenchi stood dumbstruck for a few moments, then looked around, as if he was disoriented. The Ryokos however looked at something they haven't noticed yet, and jerked as another wave of horror hit them.  
  
Through his right chest, was a smoldering hole, one that was 6 centimeters in diameter. Almost as one the dream-Ryoko and the dreaming- Ryoko both had the same expression on their face: the shock of realization. Looking at him, they saw a field of stars against the void. through the cauterized wound.  
  
Ryoko knew all too well the smell of burnt flesh. She also knew Tenchi's scent. Sweaty, clean, freshly awakened it made no difference. Tenchi had his unique aroma. Now the two were fused in a way that made Ryoko wish that she had never even thought up of, much less remarked about her desires to 'Cook Tenchi and eat him all up.'  
  
As the battered Ryoko ran towards Tenchi, now hyperventilating, he turned to face her. He greeted her with a sheepish smile, the one loved so much, this time it was because of what Tenchi must feel. The sheer irony of the words Kagato had spoken to him were the same as the ones Yosho had.  
  
She halted in shock. Tenchi was confused and followed her gaze, then realization struck him as well. Looking down and after facing her again forcing a smile onto his face, Tenchi walked up to her dream-counterpart, now pain was apparent in his features, numbly the observing Ryoko noted that the shock must've worn off. Grasping her by the waist, he leaned forward, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and said, "Shigata ga nai, neh?" With those words, his eyes went dull, and he collapsed onto a petrified dream-Ryoko.  
  
Ryoko was struck by irony, at. at le. least, I.. I g-got t. him. first? Even her thoughts were incoherent.  
  
As the dream-Ryoko laid Tenchi onto what was left of what was once a pristine marble-like floor, she began to sob. Tenchi was now out of 'battle-mode', back in the simple tunic and pants he almost always wore. As everyone else was freed from the mirror dimension of Shoja, the Ryoko in the dream ignored them, simply kneeling on the floor, resting Tenchi's head in her lap and stroking his cheek affectionately, her face now an emotionless mask.  
  
As everyone else flooded in to see Tenchi, the dream suddenly froze. Everything was transformed into shades of black and white, the flashes of horror apparent in the rest of the 'gang.'  
  
Although it was too late to do Ryoko any good, it still stopped.  
  
Still holding her breath she hovered over to where Tenchi lay. As she approached, a series of colors appeared. That of brown's, blacks, and blues. She gasped at what she saw.  
  
The prone body of the 5-year old Tenchi who had played with her in the past hovered above it all. Ryoko drifted over to look at him. His face was a mask of peace, a state of calm found only in slumber. Then she looked at his knee, it was raw, like he had tripped and skinned it.  
  
Her mind flashed back to the days where she played with Tenchi as a child. Times that had brought her respite from the hell of the void, giving her hope again. One day he was scrambling up the rocks on the mouth of her cave and he slipped. His knee had been skinned and he was in extreme pain. How she wished that her astral form could, for just once, have the ability to touch the boy physically, to look after him, to comfort him, anything but just float there and observe his pain, unable to ease it somehow. Instead, she opted to simply lay down by Tenchi, and she began to stroke his face. Although his pain was still great, it was almost as if, Ryoko's touch calmed him. She knew that she could see him, but he surprised her when he look straight into her eyes, deep brown meeting amber, thanking her right before he lost consciousness. Later, Tenchi's grandmother found him sleeping, looking so peaceful for someone with such a great injury.  
  
As the vividness of the memory flashed through her, something snapped inside Ryoko. She looked down on her dream-counterpart and the similarity made itself apparent. Now quaking, she picked up the hovering boy and clutched him to her chest. Savoring his warmth as if it was the only source of sanity in her mental hell, Ryoko softly hummed a tune to him, a tune she remembered some woman singing to her when she herself had been a child. Later, she learned that that woman had been her mother, Washu. However, halfway through Washu's Lullaby, little Tenchi disappeared, and Ryoko suddenly felt her hands going through the air and ending up clutching only herself.  
  
This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Millennia of abuse did not break her, nor did her bitter failures, even purgatory hasn't stopped her. But the destruction of the one thing that meant something to her did. Inhaling in a long ragged gasp, she choked, and righting herself, she screamed her rage to the universe.  
  
The force of her scream shattered her surroundings.and thankfully, destroyed that sadistic world.  
  
Ryoko jerked upright in her rafter-turned bed. She was quaking with so many feelings, some of them being fear, loss, and worry. She was surprised to see herself still in battle-armor and in her right hand was clasped her ruby sword. She could now smell the odor of burned oak.  
  
Looking around she saw that she had cut through part of the beams in the ceiling. Deactivating her sword, she tried to calm herself. Before finally stopping her quaking, one word flashed into her mind.  
  
Tenchi  
  
Fear lighting up her eyes, reason was thrown out of the window, and Ryoko phased into his room, seeking his presence, his warmth. his smell.  
  
What she saw almost made her repeat her roar of sorrow.  
  
Tenchi's bed was empty.  
  
***  
  
Even if she wanted to, I don't think Ryoko could have moved. As I went back to the room after seeing her rafter empty, I saw her there. frozen, looking at my bed. Oh no. please no.  
  
"Ryoko..? What are you doing here?" I said to her, curious as to why she was in her battle-armor. I was still unaware that I was in mine. It worried me. she looked, she looked so lost.  
  
I think that got her attention. She turned towards me.  
  
"Ryoko, daijo-" 'bu' I was going to ask.  
  
But I could not finish as I was glomped by Ryoko. who started sobbing onto my shoulder. her arms quaked, hands roaming all over me.  
  
This wasn't the flirting and practical sexual harassment she often committed without knowing it. This was fear. pure unadulterated fear. It confirmed my theories. that I have barely scratched the tip of the iceberg in the personality of what should be one of the simplest people I know. Her fingers roamed over me, shaking, as if not believing I was real, that she was afraid to believe I was real.  
  
Although I didn't mean to, I scooped her up in my arms, nuzzling the wrist of her probing hands, returning her touch, proving to her that I was there. I rocked her as I would a small child frightened by a monster in her dream, thinking that her parents were gone. I remember a tune my father used to hum to me. and it felt appropriate for Ryoko.  
  
She still could not say words, but she calmed down. I found myself nearly in tears as I looked down upon her, cursing myself for taking her for granted. Why. why did you go through so much Ryoko? You deserve more. yes you do. Much much more than I can ever hope to give you.  
  
I sniffed, looking back up at the moon, the same moon I stared at as I looked back at recent events.  
  
It wasn't time to ask questions, it was time to fix things. As I had done with Sasami, I vaulted the balcony, landed, and took her to the deck, where Sasami and Mihoshi still lay in their sleeping bags. Before I got out of my room, I fetched beddings for her.  
  
Although I couldn't really tell, she seemed content.  
  
***  
  
All is right with the world. Ryoko thought to herself. He's here. he's here! Tenchi had never returned her affection like this. She knew this wasn't the kind of love she wanted from him. But, although it was not what she expected, it was much much more than that. He loved her like he would his own child, surpassing the affection one would have for their mate. Tenchi had not only delivered, he had surpassed.  
  
In his arms, weak as they might be physically, although for a Terran, his years of budo and now farmwork hardened him, another power lay hidden, radiating its presence. To most it would be terrible, to Ryoko it was comforting, knowing that he was there for her.  
  
***  
  
As I laid her down and tried to say something to her, I noticed her asleep. with a lone tear streaking down her cheek. Don't tell me you're having these dreams too, who's next, Aeka?  
  
I then reclined next to her and tried to once again compose my thoughts. Ryoko rolled so that her head was now on my chest and her noggin rested on my neck. I blew gently down on her baby hairs, seeing her smile in her sleep my heart was soothed.  
  
"Sleep well, Ryoko, don't worry, whatever it is, I would rather die than forsake any one of you," I whispered to her, yes, I will make sure that you feel no more of your pain, you've already been through so much my Ryoko, rest now, for I will protect you, no matter the cost. "How could I be so stupid. They don't deserve this."  
  
With that I resumed to staring at the reddish horizon in the east, knowing that sleep will not find me until I get my thoughts in order and I make a decision. I've been running. I've been running too damn long. If I have to leave them to protect them from me. I'll pay that price.  
  
I swept my finger across her cheek to wipe away glistening tears. At that Ryoko purred in her sleep, hmm, if you were awake Ryoko you'd be enjoying this more wouldn't you? I queried in my mind, before shoving that though away, scolding myself for being so shallow.  
  
Gently, I laid her up down onto the floor, it was a little hard setting up her beddings with her cradled in my arms. As I tucked her in just as I had done with Sasami and Mihoshi before her, I laid my lips lightly on her eyelids. For some reason, after I did this, she reverted to her normal clothes and the fierce markings she sported now disappeared. At this point I discovered my own state and I reverted to my normal self. Hnn, I guess that's how I sensed her in the first place.  
  
"I'm sorry Ryoko, I'm too much of a coward to do this while you're awake." It would cause too much trouble anyway. it would be nice if I had all your help, but.  
  
*** 'Making the Rounds' ***  
  
Figuring that I might as well check the rest of the 'gang,' I decided to visit Washu first. Beforehand, I grabbed some more pillows and blankets from the closet and set them up on the deck. Ryoko was now snoozing happily, and with a final glance at her face, exposing all her vulnerabilities, I went back inside to fetch the rest.  
  
What the hell am I thinking? Well, since I actually feel like reaching out. why not?  
  
Boy, this has turned into a slumber party. I slipped into Washu's laboratory, careful of the crab-bell mounted on the door. At first I thought she was awake, seeing her on her cushion with her holographic laptop busy, scrolling with changing displays of data.  
  
As I closed in however, I noticed that she was slumped over, dozing. The digits and symbols flashed off of her face.  
  
"Washu, you of all people should know that's bad for your back." I mock-lectured her with a smile on my face, grinning at the sight before me. "Hnn, what's this. The Masaki Project." I read from one of the window before another popped up and took its place. What could she be doing now? I asked myself, curious as to what Washu is studying.  
  
Great, she's showing interest in me again. I wonder how she would react if I. nah.  
  
I'm noticing a theme here I muse to myself as I lift up her form. Once again, I had another of the girls in my arms. not that I am complaining of course.  
  
I've never seen where Washu slept. I knew better than to wander around her laboratory unescorted. I put her against me as if I was burping a child, her chest against my shoulder, my left hand just under her hips. I felt moisture on the back of my shirt. I forced myself not to laugh.  
  
She was different from the others I held. With Sasami I held a small petite body. With Ryoko, it was more mature. With Washu. it was both. Caught in the middle, not an adult, yet not a child. is 'dichotomy' a major theme in my life, or is it 'irony?'  
  
I knew it reflected her inner conflicts, about how she tries to evade her past, her rashness trying to scare us away, yet it seems as if she is just as afraid of losing us. "Yes. you and Ryoko have a lot in common," I cooed. "How much hell did he put you through?" More than I could ever comprehend I suppose.  
  
"Tenchi." Washu whispered.  
  
"Yes Washu. chan?" I replied, but alas, she was still asleep.  
  
Do you bury yourself in your work too to escape from reality Washu?  
  
Its ironic. someone as brilliant as her is running from the truth. I don't know anything about science, but its obviously a safety blanket for her. Breathing in the scented air of the alternate dimension, I knew it to be a farce as well. She is a crab, I concurred with her crustacean mascot. You have much more in common besides the hairstyle. it's a shell, it's a fucking shell!  
  
You try to get closer to me. but you still have that wall there, all of you have something like that don't you?  
  
I stared disdainfully at my surroundings. No. you shouldn't stay here. You should be with us Washu-chan. Shifting grip, I made my way from the lab. As I stepped into the hall, I heard a moan from upstairs. I looked down at Washu's back, unconsciously massaging it with my callused fingertips, feeling her smooth skin under her satin jammies. At least you're dressed for the occasion.  
  
I might as well.  
  
I head up the stairs, continuing to rock Washu gently, making sure her back is straight. Sasami had left the door open. I crept in, wary of the precious cargo in my arms.  
  
Aeka makes some more noise, but I can't tell if they were words or not. Seeing as Sasami and Ryoko had nightmares, I decided to see if Aeka was also a victim.  
  
I kneeled down, still carrying a sleeping Washu and leaned in to hear.  
  
"No Tenchi-sama, you mustn't, no. no. NO! Stop, pl-please. stop! Tenchi-sama, please...!" Aeka moaned, beginning to shift in her sleep. I noticed that the covers were moist with sweat and Aeka herself was damp, her breathing uneven and rapid.  
  
"Aeka-hime..?" I asked puzzled, that is until she shuddered as she moaned, finally I got the clue and wisely I decided to get up. On the. bright side, it doesn't look like a nightmare.  
  
". no, not in the kitchen. Tenchi-sama. what ab-about. th-the. c- children?" She continued on delirious, so immersed was she in her dreams.  
  
The way she phrased it made me think she didn't want dream-Tenchi to stop. Well, it is nice to feel. appreciated. I suppose. I bent down to kiss her on the lips, which made her face even redder than before. I then stood up to walk out of the room. As I was closing her door.  
  
All's well in there. I think.  
  
"You mustn't! Eeeee! Keep going. Eeeee! Tenchi-sa-" At that I heard a high pitched moan that worked its way up my spine.  
  
Definitely all well. I don't think I want to 'ruin' her dreams. no, best to leave her alone.  
  
"Maybe it is a good thing that you can't hear anything over your snoring Sasami-chan." I said as I thought about the little Juraian princess. Shaking my head, I padded down the stairs, carefully so as to not disturb the little bundle of eagle feathers that I clutched to myself.  
  
As I finally reached the deck, before I put Washu down so she can join the others lying side by side, I decided to be a bit. pre-emptive. Hey, it's only fair to her. I tried to convince myself as I bent over to give Washu a present.  
  
"Und vat are 'you' doing, mein little Guinea Pig?" Washu said slyly, a foxy look on her face. I couldn't help but notice the Germanic accent she used. Sure its creepy. but. but, argh!  
  
I was caught in the act of kissing her and I knew there was no denying it. All the resolve I built up that night temporarily dissolved, turning me back into the dopey farm-boy I had to evolve from. If it wasn't for the fact that I already went to the bathroom while taking a break from my thinking, I knew I would have relieved myself, seeing as my bowels instantly clenched. My face was the color of a tomato, I am so embarrassed. Quick Tenchi. go back to oblivious idiot mode!  
  
"I. I, I'm s-sorr-" I began  
  
"For what, I wanted to!" Washu exclaimed, sounding a little disappointed, yet amused as well.  
  
Not the first time. am I such a failure?  
  
This left me speechless, so, she feels that way too. Before I knew it, I felt an increase in weight in my arms, and they spread out involuntarily, but I did not lose my grip. I was surprised I didn't drop her, not from the weight, but from the shock. Looking down once more, I saw that Washu had shifted to her. adult form.  
  
"Okay Ten-chi, try it again." Washu beckoned to me, purring and using her right hand to draw circles on my chest.  
  
I don't know which is scarier. if she's teasing me. or if she means it.  
  
It was at this point that I collapsed, not from her physical weight, but the effect of her words. Somehow as I stumbled, I managed to make it into the living room before I finally toppled over. Washu fell onto my arms and landed on the couch. With her arms around me, I fell with her. I was now in the compromising position of being on top of her. My arms were now braced around her, holding me up. The shock of our fall froze us. Although I was dying of embarrassment, part of me was savoring the moment as well.  
  
"Mon dieu, Ten-cherie, how you say. stru-ong!" Washu purred out seductively, now switching into a french accent. I couldn't tell if the 'look' in her eyes were real, or were a joke. For some reason, I felt cold.  
  
It was when she sighed that my eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Thankfully, for some reason, my blood vessels didn't burst, or I would've sprayed Washu with a liter of blood. Finally regaining enough control of myself, I jumped off of her and I once again tried to apologize.  
  
Before I could get any further, Washu rose, and cut me off. She met my eyes and she put her fingers to my lips.  
  
"It's okay Tenchi. if anything I wish you would've continued." At that she gave me a wink and she walked out into the deck.  
  
I wish too. but its wrong. You know it, and I know it. I just wish you'd come out with it though.  
  
I followed her outside, a little confused. As I got close to her, she whirled around to face me yet again.  
  
"Washu. chan, t-thank you." I stammered. before she could reply I added more, "how. h-how long w-were you awake?"  
  
She grinned at me mischievously, her adult form enhancing her smile. 'and everything else' added my hentai side.  
  
"Oh. ever since I heard our proper little Aeka-hime's. testament!" Washu giggled after this, which may I add sounded heavenly. "Well Tenchi, you know what they say. it's always the quiet ones."  
  
Quiet. Aeka is practically the loudest one here. then again, it's because of Ryoko.  
  
Washu, do you even know what that innuendo stands for?  
  
By now, most of my embarrassment was past me, and Washu set up her blankets adjacent to a post, beckoning me to come over to her. I complied and sat down next to her. She surprised me by holding onto me.  
  
It wasn't a glomp like Ryoko's. But it did have some disturbing parallels; I could feel the desperation through her arms that encircled me. As I looked at her, I saw not a mischievous glance that she sported so much, but the maternal one, only Ryoko and I ever saw. This brought me back again to our discussion that night with Taro. I was now feeling what it's like to be held in a mother's arms, warm, safe, and secure. I felt myself growing sleepier. I noticed that Washu has now lain the two of us together, clutching me to her as she started to sob onto my back. This got my attention.  
  
Again, like your daughter you have a façade. You may not want to admit it, but you two are closer than you might think. I rubbed her back, trying to calm her, and her fingertips dug into me. gently.  
  
"Wa-Washu-chan. what's wrong?" I asked her.  
  
That would be impossible for me to understand. But, that doesn't mean I can't try to fix it.  
  
"I. I'm s-sorry, Tenchi. but I c-can't help it." It was now Washu's turn to stutter.  
  
I turned around without breaking her grip on me. By now Washu has reverted to her child form, and she started to get control of herself. So this is why you lock yourself away Washu. I thought sadly, figuring out even more about this little woman. I now switched positions with her, now being the one to comfort her in her time of need.  
  
Even mothers need to be mothered sometimes.  
  
"Tenchi. thank you. for caring." She said to me, I could feel the emotions in each and every syllable that came out of her mouth. I struck me how hard and lonely a life she must have had that my act of putting her to bed would seem so profound.  
  
Why do you thank me? For saving you. why? Sometimes I think you actually enjoyed that kind of limbo, frozen there. free from thought. Thoughts about your past. But no, that would be the coward's way out. Not like I can talk.  
  
Before I could reply to her, I noticed that she had fallen asleep. I laid the blanket on top of her, and I removed the trail of tears marring her face with my lips. I took a moment to rest my forehead upon hers, my emblem temporarily flaring to life.  
  
You're all enigmas you know that. But, even with all this chaos. would any of us have it any other way?  
  
"Your welcome Washu-chan. and thank you as well. for everything." I whispered to her before getting up and putting my back against the post. I took a moment to look at all the girls around me, minus Aeka. Looking at how at peace they are, yet knowing that they have their own demons lurking within them, I am once again reminded of those words I had said to Kagato. and how much I meant them.  
  
I'm so tired, I have a long way to go. but exactly how long?  
  
As I slump down to a sitting position as fatigue catches up with me, I see the reddish hue that heralds the arrival of dawn. Before I passed out, I noticed a glow, I look up and I see Tsunami, benevolently watching me, but before I could making anything out it-  
  
End Starry Night 


	2. 0x0x00 Disclaimer

Disclaimer/Intro Omake Theatre: 'Starry Night'  
  
Fireflies were soaring around the Masaki Residence in swarms, lighting up the area in swirling displays of illumination, almost as if the house was surrounded by sparkling pollen. A small group wanders around the patio. Something that sounds like a wind-chime is heard from the inside, and the shoji door opens. A short boy who does not yet look like a man steps out wearing a simple pair of faded jeans that looked a waist size too small, and a beat-up T-shirt sporting the logo 'Nekomi Tech' emblazoned across the back, with a smaller breast patch in the front. He gazes towards the darkness and blinks while stepping back, his spiky hair staying still all the while.  
  
"Umm. Bell, I think it's your cue." The man-child stutters out, a bit embarrassed.  
  
"What a loser." came a juvenile-sounding voice from inside.  
  
"Hey, lay off brat." Was a reply heard from inside, having a velvet tone.  
  
"Um, oh my." Was the third voice, and soft padding was heard, until another figure stepped through the opening into the Masaki Residence. The figure was a Caucasian looking female, she had streaking dirty-blond hair which hand strands that seemed to defy gravity and cerulean eyes. She was clad in Scandinavian robes complete with bangles, and quasi-socks. The young woman looked shyly at the boy, who returned the same expression. She wore no make-up, yet she possessed two triangles near her cheekbones with a slit on her forehead, all a very dark shade of blue.  
  
She was then shoved forward onto him by someone's arm. Another woman appears, this one older. Although she wielded Caucasian facial structure, she had a mocha-bronze skin tone that no amount of tanning would have given a normal person. Topping it off were locks of platinum hair which too, seemed to defy gravity. "Let's get this show on the road younger sister," she said with a bored air, as she made her way onto the patio. She was wearing another robe, although this one was a bit risqué, with it being a violet hue of blue with tiger stripes serving as the trim. Like her predecessor, she too possessed facial markings, all three were triangles. "Come on Belldandy, get this over with so I can get back to Ultraman!" She whined, annoyed at the prospect of missing her show.  
  
Belldandy, as the first one was named, was too busy, having knocked over the lone male onto the decking, and mysteriously ending up underneath him with his hands splayed just to the sides of her head, his knees straddling her. "Umm, K-Keiichi-san, c-can you p-please." She stuttered as her cheeks were turning rosy with embarrassment. Belldandy turned her head towards the house so that her face was obscured.  
  
"Uh, of course." Keiichi wavered as he slowly got off of the stricken Belldandy. "Urd." he growled at the older sister, who was trying to look as if she had not staged the incident.  
  
"What are you looking at Kei-chan?" The platinum-haired Urd said, trying to not crack a smirk.  
  
"Eeek! Pervert, don't harass my sister!" Yelled the youthful voice again, filled with indignation and anger at what she had just seen. Keiichi was thrown back by the sheer force of her words. She stomped up to Urd and turned her wrath on her instead. "You, how could you let him do this to elder sister! I knew I should have brought Banpei!" At this one could see Keiichi flinch in fear. This diminutive little spitfire wore clothes more typical to the heroines of Shojo manga, heavily laced with shades of pink, complete with funny shoes. To complete the look was a croquet mallet slung across her back, shaft in pink, head in red. Of all of the three girls, with her dark eyes and black hair, this one seemed the most Japanese.  
  
"Um. Keiichi-san?" Belldandy meekly called out to him, pointing at his face. "It seems that Skuld has marked you." Keiichi only sighed while Urd began to giggle while Skuld just 'hmmphed', and went into a stern akimbo pose. She was shocked however when Belldandy took her hand and proceeded to erase the imprinted kanji of 'eek', 'pervert', and 'harass' all over his face.  
  
"Umm, as much as I hate to ruin this moment between the two lovers," Urd quipped cupidly, failing to suppress a smile. "Remember, what we were sent here to do."  
  
"Th-that's right!" the two subjects said in unison, eager to shift the attention elsewhere.  
  
Belldandy then stood upright with the rest of the group standing beside her. "We have been sent to inform you, the reader, of the following." She paused to set the tone, and continued on, staring straight into the night as if it were the audience. "The author makes no claim to the characters of 'Tenchi Muyo!' in any way, shape or form. He does not, and will not, seek profit from his writing. The only item the author lays claim to is the writing, all of which is his, and any similarities to existing fics, are coincidental and unintentional."  
  
Keiichi took the time to take over for Belldandy, mustering up what dignity he could. "All 'Tenchi Muyo!' characters belong to AIC and Pioneer respectively. If either party seeks to find trouble with this writing effort, all they need to do is contact the author, and all copies existing to the author's awareness, will be removed from the internet." He paused, having no more to say. "Umm. is that it?" He whispered to the rest of the group.  
  
"No, dummy!" Skuld said quite loudly, causing Keiichi to grumble while Urd and Belldandy simply winced and shook their heads. "The author would also like us to inform the readers that this fic is unconventional. Meaning, the normal pairings need not apply. Whoever these 'AHRLI' and 'RHALI' people are," Skuld paused, unfamiliar with the words. "Whatever, whoever they are, they should be warned that the story is not about T/R or T/A," Skuld shook her head again, lost, not knowing the terminology. "It is simply a continuation of the OAV and it does not focus on the pairings at all."  
  
Urd looked around as the other three looked at her, prompting her to do something. "Wha-oh yeah, the author would also like to inform the readers that he does not lay claim to any of us. in his dreams," she added under her breath. "We belong and work for the entity known as Kami-sama, AKA Kosuke Fujishima." Urd stopped her announcement and looked around, "who are we talking to anyway? Whatever, I want to go back to the temple now."  
  
All four characters sighed in relief at having their job done. "Hey, Tenchi, check what's making that racket down there!" rang a man's voice. All the characters eye's bugged out and they panicked, scurrying to find a way of escape. Belldandy and Skuld found two brooms, and Keiichi hitched a ride with Belldandy, leaving a startled Urd behind.  
  
"You guys, I swear!" Urd sighed in relief as she found a vintage vacuum cleaner, and straddling the shiny tubular exterior, grabbed the hose and tried to get it to take to the air. "Hi-yo Silver, Awaaaaay!" With that the machine sputtered somewhat, but took off into the night sky.  
  
Tenchi poked his head out the open sliding door and saw nothing except three twinkling stars when he looked up into the sky. "Nothing here dad, must be hearing things." Tenchi just shrugged as he took one last look, and shut the door softly behind him. 


	3. 1x1x01 Here Comes the Sun

'Here Comes the Sun' v.1.2  
Sunlight shone through the window of the Jurai sisters' room. It slowly crept through the room in a golden haze, making its way towards its sole occupant. The line of sunshine climbed over the mound of sleep-tousled sheets. Slowly, the heat of the rising sun also spread through the room, dispelling the chill of night. The mound shifted in response to the changes incurred. A pair of stray purple bangs poked through, its owner grumbling in turn.  
  
Aeka moaned, this time in reluctance in waking up. She turned her head, trying to re-orient herself to the conscious world in her room. As she sat up and wiped away the crust in her eyes, she noticed something missing.  
  
"Sasami, are you here?" Aeka asked, trying to see if her sister was still around. Hmm, she must be downstairs then, Aeka concluded, hearing no response.  
  
Aeka began to feel strange, trying to think back to what she dreamed of, remembering little snippets from her sleeping world. Oh my, I've been having more of those lately, she sighed, Tenchi... why..?  
  
Having had a very 'very' good night of sleep and feeling invigorated, Aeka decided to go along with her morning routine.  
  
Quickly, Aeka tugged off her plain sleeping yukata of virginal white, slipping her locks free from their protective sleeves, lest her immaculate coiffure be ruined in the throes of slumber. Quickly, she dressed herself up in her azure kimono, taking a moment to smile down at her switch in wardrobe from traditional Juraian attire to traditional Japanese attire. Her expression turned cheerless as she matched a lock of her hair to the fabric, sighing to herself. She alternated her gaze from kimono to hair, and back again.  
  
Trudging back a bit, she placed the priced kimono given to her by a blushing Tenchi. mindlessly stroking the spider silk. "This isn't who I am. yet," she whispered, wiping away a couple of tears.  
  
Aeka turned to examine her nude form in a small mirror resting on one of their cylindrical wooden wardrobes. "It's just getting worse." she muttered as she noticed she had absentmindedly began to caress herself, running her hands over her arms, twisting about, a name about to roll of her tongue, not in arousal, but in sadness, needing the person in another way.  
  
Quickly, albeit with reluctance, Aeka donned her one of her everyday robes, practically a Juraian equivalent of the Japanese kimono, and made her way to the bathroom. Unlike what others thought, the princess wasn't the vainest of characters, only rinsing her face after first washing her hands, ensuring the varying lengths of her hair were not in disarray, she exited, making a beeline for Tenchi's room.  
  
She knocked politely; about to wake him up in a fashion she savored. "Tenchi-sama, its time to get up," Aeka chirped, the emotions in such a simple sentence not faked. "Sasami must have prepared breakfast already."  
  
Usually Tenchi would've responded in a sleepy voice, trashing about in panic a bit before falling out of his bed. Aeka would in turn have giggled, hiding it behind a hand, not the maniacal fox laugh most expected of her.  
  
This time, she was answered by silence, and when Aeka placed her ears against the door, she was greeted by the sounds of the outside; several birds were singing to each other.  
  
Curious, and knowing that Tenchi didn't mind her entering, Aeka opened the door, unsubtly to announce her presence politely. She saw that the bed was empty, while not made; it was obvious that no one had slept in it that night.  
  
Aeka paused to look around Tenchi's room. She walked over to his desk, picking up Tenchi-ken. Aeka chuckled lightly at the fact that the boy didn't carry it with him everywhere he went as anyone else entrusted to/by the sword would have. She thought back to some of the shows she watched, chuckling some more. "You never did strike me as the type to sleep with a sword."  
  
After saying 'sleep,' Aeka blushed. As she turned her head about in habit, she found a pair of bokken. She examined the weapons she had seen Tenchi and Yosho spar with for the first time. She hefted one with the grace and ease of an experienced fencer. In a manner unlike how most perceived her, Aeka placed it on both her forearms, bringing it up to her face to examine the grains. "You're from Funaho, aren't you?"  
  
Her question was answered when a small beam of light emerged from the bokken, directed at her own master key. Aeka patted the weapon fondly, jokingly thinking about how a Juraian resource had been turned into a Terran product, placing the weapon back next to its companion. She padded out into the balcony, noticing that the door was left open. "Just like him. like Tenchi." Aeka stretched as she basked in the sunlight on Tenchi's balcony.  
  
Having spent an undeterminable amount of time there, doing nothing, reveling in the bliss of tedium, Aeka walked back into the hallway, closing the doors behind her, but not after making Tenchi's bed, blushing madly as she rearranged his sheets, resisting the urge to sleep in them. "No, not another fetish." Aeka moaned.  
  
She walked down the hallway, noticing for the first time not only the absence of the signs of life usually rampant in the house, but also the smells, particularly the aroma caused when Sasami worked her magic in the kitchen. Aeka smiled fondly at that, her envy of her sister surpassed by pride, and to an extent, her appetite.  
  
Reaching the living room, Aeka saw that it, along with the kitchen, was deserted. She looked up at her rival's roost, expecting to see Ryoko there, knowing that the pirate, no matter how much persuasion, would not wake up early short of something drastic, or Tenchi calling her. Aeka looked closely, noting something was off asides from the missing spot. She saw the gash where an oak rafter had been cut through by an energy sword.  
  
Aeka grew slightly worried, pairing what she had just discovered along with the absence of everywhere in the house. Quickly, Aeka for the patio along the lakefront, eager to seek out her guardians to ascertain what happened. Aeka all but threw open the door panels, nearly taking them off their runners. She bolted forward, eyes scanning around for any threat that may be hovering about, energy tapped, waiting to be called upon. Aeka only noticed something was on the deck when she stumbled onto one of the masses lying in rest. Aeka shrill shriek pierced the morning calm as she toppled over. Her arms flailed in a futile manner, waving about frantically as if they would help her. On the way down, she saw the two she had been looking for: Tenchi and Sasami, lying there, peacefully asleep. She saw the dumbstruck expression on her face as she arced downwards, reflected first off of the calm lake's glassy surface, then the polished deck's maroon surface just before she became physically acquainted with her shocked visage.  
  
Aeka lied there where she lay, trying to comprehend what had happened. She whined slightly, refusing the urge to kick out with her legs as she would have in a tantrum. "How embarrassing," she muttered, looking back at what she had tripped on, seeing a figure who was half-emerged from her beddings, bronzed skin and of course the trademark mass of 'fluffy' not 'frizzy' blond hair. "Years of training to be a delicate, graceful flower. and I trip over the ditz."  
  
A low laugh and light clapping captured Aeka's attention, turning around, she moved up to a semi-kneeling position, legs tucked under her, off to the side.  
  
"Nice landing Aeka," Ryoko mocked her, eyeing the princess from where she was still tucked into her beddings. "I give it a 6.5, bad fall, but the form was good." She laughed at her own joke. "Thanks for waking me up like how you did; I think I owe you one." Ryoko extracted herself like some mermaid shucking her fish tail. She stretched as she sat up, a big grin on her face as she enjoyed the morning scenery. "Heh, you guys have a point," Ryoko remarked as she looked about, "it 'is' pretty nice here in the morning."  
  
"You're... welcome, Ryoko," Aeka muttered, this time in annoyance. She turned her glare towards the still sleeping Mihoshi, who had stayed asleep even through the collision with H.M.S. Aeka. "What are all of you doing out here Ryoko?" Her fears transformed into something else. Aeka stifled a sigh. Great, I had a 'vivid' dream, meanwhile, they get the real thing. Aeka mentally fretted as to why she was left out.  
  
"Don't worry Aeka, we didn't leave you out on purpose if that's what you think." Ryoko's tone wasn't malicious, instead, it was consolatory. "I didn't know he would have brought everyone with him."  
  
"Oh. what happened?" Aeka herself was still curious.  
  
Ryoko grew somber, as if reluctant to talk about it. "First Aeka, you have to promise not to laugh?"  
  
"What?"  
  
Ryoko hissed at her to be quiet, pointing at the others still asleep. "Do you promise or not?" It wasn't a question so much as an ultimatum.  
  
Aeka nodded guiltily.  
  
Ryoko grumbled a bit, still debating within herself to tell Aeka, the one most likely to use it against her. "I. I had a nightmare last night."  
  
"Nightmare?" Aeka looked at Sasami, and Ryoko followed her gaze.  
  
"Yeah, Sasami's not the only one with bad dreams." Ryoko missed the guilty expression that flashed all-too-briefly across Aeka's face. "I. I needed Tenchi then. The dream, it was really bad."  
  
Aeka didn't know what to say. Some small part of her wanted to jump on the opportunity. But Aeka felt that was too petty. A larger part of her felt sorry for Ryoko, knowing how hard nightmares were on her own sister; Sasami, Aeka couldn't feel anything else but sympathy. "I understand Ryoko." Aeka noticed that Ryoko herself had trouble acknowledging her support. "What about the others? Sasami must have had a nightmare too. but Mihoshi and Washu too?"  
  
Aeka felt guilty again that Sasami had chosen to go to Tenchi for comfort instead of her, but she put that away, scolding herself for being jealous.  
  
"I don't know, all I remember was going to Tenchi's room at night." Ryoko held up a hand to forestall any of Aeka's outbursts. "I. it had something to do with Tenchi. It. it wasn't pretty Aeka. Kagato was involved."  
  
That was all that needed to be said. Aeka too, felt a trill of fear surge through her as Ryoko mentioned the bastard's name. "Continue on Ryoko." Aeka used the same tone as she did on Sasami. The recurring nightmares didn't begin on Earth. It had happened. ever since Ryoko had attacked Jurai. Aeka suppressed the flash of anger that peaked, telling herself that it wasn't her fault.  
  
"I found his room empty." Ryoko stared her right in the eyes. "Aeka. he was gone," Ryoko croaked, and Aeka could all but feel the terror in Ryoko at that point, seeing the infallible pirate shiver in what could only be fear.  
  
"Its okay Ryoko. he would have done it for any of us." Aeka felt odd at what had been happening. So Ryoko had a bad dream. still, Sasami too?  
  
"But. he, he came to me." Ryoko wiped her invisible tears away. "Tenchi. he took me in his arms, and I. I fell asleep in them."  
  
Aeka prevented a sob from escaping her, living Ryoko's explanation through herself. She smiled at Ryoko. "That's Tenchi."  
  
"Yeah. you're right Aeka," Ryoko concurred.  
  
Both turned to look at the boy that was more or less, in the middle of all the things that happened in the household. The boy was their salvation, and he turned into their protector, transformed again into the focal point of the arguments in the house. Odd, both girls had hated each other. and when they met Tenchi, they naturally fought against each other. But, Tenchi wasn't some trophy to them, he was their savior and hope for the future. It was simply ironic that he was now the focus of their affections, and consequently, the fighting involved around him. It was as if Aeka and Ryoko's hatred was transformed, and their conflict moved onto a different battlefield.  
  
The loving expressions that were on their faces shattered as they saw something that ruined the sight they beheld. Rather. two things. Tenchi was there, lying without beddings on the deck. In his sleep, he wore a light content smile, a look that he frequently had. Aeka and Ryoko appreciated the fact that Tenchi, even in his sleep, when he is most vulnerable, was still the same person. That he wore no mask. that they could see. Normally, as one, both would have moved in to drape a blanket over him, not wanting to ruin his sleep. After both of them snuck a caress and kiss to Tenchi of course. With Tenchi there asleep, Aeka and Ryoko didn't fear anything amiss. However, something was already there.  
  
On either side of Tenchi, attached to his arms, using his arms as pillows, were two of the other sleepers. Clamped on to his right side, Washu was pressed against Tenchi, facing him, with her right arm over them both, hand resting on Tenchi's chest. To his left was Sasami, seeming to mold right into his body, both arms on Tenchi, as if he was a stuffed animal-turned-bedmate. She clung on tighter to Tenchi than Washu. Tenchi returned their embrace, clasping them tighter to himself as the trio slept.  
  
Adding to Aeka's and Ryoko's ire was Washu in her adult form. Her mature body, graceful and feminine even in sleep, perhaps more so, was clad in a pair of sea green 'jammies' that matched the shades of her irises. She filled it out at all the right spots, with slack and tension at the perfect places, as if it was created specifically for her. The material, judging from the sheen, and how it brushed up against Tenchi, could only be satin. or some other high quality silk. As with Sasami's own pajamas, Washu's pair was also decorated, in her case with the red crabs that were synonymous with the usually miniature 'Washu-chan.'  
  
Then there was the expression on the mad scientist's face. Gone was the twisted smirk of superiority, madness, and triumph that would have formed on her face. Instead, there was a look of pure satisfaction, as if all she had desired was in her arms. It brought up the saying that one's true nature reveals itself in their sleep.  
  
As if to antagonize them, Washu cooed at that precise point, eliciting a responding rumble from Tenchi, soothing her.  
  
Aeka and Ryoko watched it unfold, their jaws seeming to unhinge and hit the deck. Both sported stricken expressions, before transforming in a mask of contorted rage that one would find laughable, unless it was directed at them. Both girls looked ready to either spout fire, or have a coronary.  
  
What the hell. mom! Ryoko mentally swore, bristling at the sight of her mother embracing the object of her desires. The obvious object of her desire to be precise, and Ryoko couldn't help but feel inadequate, for once someone else had the superior. assets. If Aeka wasn't so dumbstruck and tongue-tied, she would have made a snide comment about how things must 'run' in the family. However, it was a fact that Ryoko had never beaten about the bush about her feelings for the sleeping boy. Seeing her mother so close to him, especially in something so seemingly intimate as sleep, Ryoko's feelings were torn. On one side, she was happy for her mother. on the other, she felt both lonely and betrayed.  
  
'Et tu, Sasami?' I was right, you are the real threat. Ryoko is nothing compared to you. To me. Before Aeka could continue on to where she would start patting herself on the back in order to lick her wounds, she also recognized Washu. Her blood ran as thick and as cold as antifreeze.  
  
"Ryoko, couldn't you keep a better," Aeka paused for effect, "hold on your mother?" Aeka's tone was dry, arching an eyebrow at Ryoko, as if blaming her for the incident.  
  
"Like you hold yours 'My Little Aeka'?!" Ryoko hurled back, "you can't even keep control of 'your' little sister." At that Ryoko fell silent. The double threat both Washu and Sasami represented becoming apparent to her. I know Aeka's no match for me. but those two. She ached for the contact Tenchi shared with her on that night, where he held her trembling with the memories of the event.  
  
Both girls glanced at each other and nodded solemnly, silently admitting defeat to themselves. One could easily see the threats these two represented. Washu's adult body was there for them to see. draped over Tenchi, a leg now slid over his, her ankle exposed. Then they directed their attentions to Sasami. If Tenchi was a pedophile, he had fooled them all.  
  
However, they knew it was only a matter of time. They knew what Tsunami looked like, the vision of beauty, grace, wisdom, and power that She represented. Any man, if not intimidated would want Her. For a moment, Sasami seemed to transform in their minds' eye to how she would appear upon maturation, when she became Her.  
  
It would have a made a beautiful picture: a Hakubi and a Jurai seeming to mold perfectly onto Tenchi. However. it wasn't either one of them. Aeka and Ryoko felt like orphans staring from their communal room windows at a loving family walking past.  
  
Both slipped into a slight depression. Discomfort and other negative emotions flowed into them. They searched for a way to remedy their situation, but found none short of acting as petty as others would consider them: each other. Neither would give the other the satisfaction of seeing herself brought down low. It was decided.  
  
"What's wrong, Ryoko? Are you feeling a little insecure?" Aeka got in the first shot, taking the initiative in the verbal skirmish, which might escalate into the physical arena.  
  
"Insecure?" Ryoko placed her hand on her breastbone. "You should be the one that's worried Little-Princess-Aeka." Ryoko stretched again, flaunting herself. Like Aeka, Ryoko was going for the throat. I don't care how tender her skin is. she's flat as a board!  
  
The predatory mask that training and protocol had given Aeka when sniping at an opponent cracked. That was low! Knowing that her dignity, along with her composure was already spread through the wind like chaff before the scythe, she rose into an aggressive pose, leaning forward at Ryoko. Ryoko in turn chose to indulge the infuriated princess, knowing she had pinched a nerve, and the initial sparks were set. Neither gave way as they leaned against each other.  
  
Instead of degenerating into a brawl, they went into a shoving match, both of them having trouble, wearing socks on a smooth wooden deck.  
  
"Eee." Aeka grunted in a high pitch, trying to force Ryoko to back off. "Hee." Ryoko countered, growling low.  
  
"Eee!" Stomping down the balls of her feet, Aeka leaned forward, feet pumping, trying to push back, or knock aside her adversary.  
  
"Hee!" Ryoko matched her drive by drive, never losing a centimeter of territory.  
  
Both held their ground, neither side gaining an advantage over other. From a distance, it was comical. The roles of the gender were reversed. Whereas I nature two males would fight over a female, now Aeka and Ryoko bickered for Tenchi. Be it butting heads, or in this case, shoving. Both knew it was pointless as much as an observer would, yet while engaged in their petty wrangling, they didn't have to deal with thoughts about things they could not defend against. Here, in themselves, they found an adversary they could confront.  
  
Aeka resisted the instinct to bite her cheek as she muffled her cry when Ryoko loosened up her assault, only to use the slack to drive home her counterstrike. Aeka barely maintained her balance, she crouched low, seeking to either flip, or bowl back Ryoko.  
  
Ryoko countered, allowing herself to absorb the princess' thrust, sliding backwards instead of being knocked off her feet.  
  
A low moan interrupted their duel, causing both to slide past each other and fall face first onto the floor.  
  
"That should teach you to tempt fate." Aeka muttered.  
  
"Shut up," Ryoko bit back.  
  
They stared at the source of the interruption, seeing Tenchi's face contort in discomfort. As if he was aware of the girls' fighting, his face saddened, still in his sleep.  
  
The urge to fight each other was drained away as they stared guiltily at Tenchi. As frustrated as they were with the current situation, they knew it gave them no right to ruin it for the others. As jealous as they were, Ryoko and Aeka sympathized with Washu and Sasami, knowing had they been able to, they would have been the ones curled up against Tenchi at that moment. Hypocrisy be damned! Both minds declared as one.  
  
"Well Aeka, I can't say I blame them." Ryoko said with a bemused smile on her face, staring at the slumbering trio.  
  
"No, not at all Ryoko, if anything, if I was in Sasami's position I would tell anyone who disapproved to. how do those uncouth gaijin Americans say it." Aeka paused to think, "to 'stick it where the sun don't shine.'" Aeka remarked, feeling giddy at her boldness.  
  
"Well now, our little princess has a mouth on her." Ryoko joked good- naturedly, it was amazing how the two could have such mood swings. Of course telling that to their collective faces was another matter entirely.  
  
"You better remember that, demon-woman!" Aeka countered, her beaming face disarming the statement's stinging aspect, letting Ryoko know that she did not take nor intend offense.  
  
As if to mock the truce the two seemed to have forged, Sasami and Washu cuddled up to Tenchi even more, limbs invading more of his 'personal space,' which now seemed to be only memory.  
  
Both of the 'spurned' girls let out a sigh. Silently, they cursed the sadistic creatures Fate and Fortune must be.  
  
Sighing Aeka went first, "Ryoko, I am going to the onsen to relax. Do you want to join me? Misery loves company after all."  
  
"Yeah, I really need to get shit-faced right now, how 'bout you," Ryoko replied, shaking her head at the sight of the three sleepers. "This is so damn sweet that I'm gonna be needing insulin if I have to look at. at this, any longer."  
  
"Of course," Aeka agreed, feeling herself grow queasy as different parts within her fought amongst themselves. "I think Nobuyuki brought in some of that Russian liqour." Aeka said, trying to change the subject, to anything but those three.  
  
"You mean vodka?" Ryoko stroked her chin, crossing legs in mid-air, assuming a thinker's pose. "I forgot you were an alcoholic too." Ryoko teased, knowing that the truth was much funnier than fiction.  
  
"I am not," Aeka weakly denied. "I just. like a drink every now and then, in moderation of course. Plus Ryoko, it's the Starka brand," she stammered, trying not to let Ryoko's prodding annoy her.  
  
"My." Ryoko slapped a hand over mouth in feigned surprise. "Little- Princess-Aeka seems to have forgotten how she out-drank 'me' after Valentine's Day." Ryoko quipped, eager for a change in topic. "You would've made a sailor blush that night. I knew royalty were supposed to be well-educated, but swearing in nineteen dialects?" She snickered, shaking her head disbelievingly.  
  
"Twenty-three," Aeka corrected her. "Don't remind me. remember who was behind that," Aeka drawled, shaking her head at the memory of that fiasco. Strange, when I fell I thought Tenchi wasn't. rrr.  
  
At that mention of the instigator of the 'Valentine's Day Fiasco', both girls decided to drop the subject sparing yet another somber look at Tenchi.  
  
Ryoko pinched her nose with one hand, point at Aeka with the other. "Aeka, you're breath stinks!"  
  
Aeka looked indignant at such an accusation, drawing breath, only to notice that she could taste it in her mouth. "I-uhh." She paused, trapped, cursing herself for forgetting to do such a small thing.  
  
"Don't worry about it." Ryoko surprised Aeka by waving it off. "It won't matter after what we're going to do." Ryoko didn't bother to say any more, making an unmistakable mime with one hand, her throat oscillating along.  
  
"Excuse me, Ryoko?" Aeka pounded after her, as the other woman floated past her into the house. But padding gently back, to steal one more glance, and to slide the door shut quietly behind her.  
  
***  
  
An eye fluttered open, revealing a vibrant viridian stare, comparable to a bird of prey's. It scoured its surroundings. The other eye opened, blinking to adjust to the line of sunlight touching them. She did bother to move more, save to roam her left hand over Tenchi's chest, savoring her current situation. She lay there, staring up at the white and blue striped awning above them.  
  
Inwardly she let loose a maniacal laugh. I'm having too much fun with this! Messing with those two never gets old. It's not like I'm not enjoying this either, she sighed. I just love bonuses, Washu thought, tightening her hold on the human pillow/body heater Tenchi was now. My Guinea Pig! Washu basked in the afterglow of her exultation, regretting she could not declare it out loud, lest she relinquish this perfect moment of hers. For a princess, Aeka's not too subtle.  
  
On the flip side of the boy, Sasami was thinking as well, feeling as if she was floating in a warm comforting space. Yes, scratch another one for Sasami! She stifled a giggle, shaking with mirth. That reminds me, I have to set up my White Day plans. You get to dream about him. I get the real thing. I say it's a fair deal, neh Aeka-ne-chan?.  
  
"My Ten-chan, mine." Sasami whispered out, nuzzling her cheek where it rested on his chest, falling asleep to the metronome pulse of his heartbeat like one would to falling rain.  
  
Washu thought she heard something, but when no more sounds came, she put it off as ambience and went back to sleep, unable to resist the urge to let herself fall. I need to find out more about you, my little guinea pig. You are such an enigma to me. Ah. let me count the ways.  
  
She didn't bother going back to her adolescent form, even though her fun was over. I. I think I like being like this. Tenchi. With an out-of- character giggle, Washu cast herself adrift, letting herself fall into the sea of security and warmth the boy provided.  
  
As if he could hear the thoughts of the two Goddesses that he held in his arms, Tenchi shivered in his sleep. Even if they wanted to, the others could no longer curl themselves closer up to him, short of lying on the boy. Sasami's emblem flashed to that of Tsunami's, and shifted back just as suddenly.  
  
Mihoshi blinked where she reclined. Halfway through their infantile squabbling, Aeka and Ryoko woke Mihoshi. With one elbow, Mihoshi had supported her propped up-head, while with her free hand, she lightly stroked where something had nudged her. She felt as if something else had just happened. She shrugged, at a loss for an answer.  
  
With a great yawn, Mihoshi rose. As she stood up to stretch, she saw a better look at the three still there sleeping on the ground. Her jealousy did not span more than a second, the rest of her absolutely touched by what she saw, smiling joyfully down at them, unaware of any ulterior motives Washu and Sasami may have.  
  
Mihoshi 'aww'ed, giggling to herself. "That's just so sweet!" Seeing something so nice to start off her day, Mihoshi bounded off. She was still clad in her GP uniform, which was possessed its perfect creases, her white 'utility puff' resembling a bunny's tail as she hop-skipped into the house  
  
End 'Here Comes the Sun' 


	4. 1x1x02 Premonitions

"Premonitions" v1.0  
  
A young boy ran across the smooth obsidian floors, a childish laugh bursting forth from him. With the short, yet rapid sprints of a child, he ran, arms pumping side to side, leaning into his turns as he sought to escape.  
  
He ran past a cluster of pillars, nearing an open space in his world. He continued to dodge, trying to hide himself from his pursuer. The boy yelped as he was tackled from behind, arms encircling his waist as together they fell and rolled across the floor, rebounding off a smooth wall.  
  
"You're it!" The pursuer pulled itself from him, and the child turned to face the one who brought him down.  
  
Her face was lit up in joy, eyes shut, giggling madly.  
  
"No fair Washu," he yelled at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, holding one deep-viridian eye open with a finger, mocking him, provoking the boy to give chase.  
  
"All's fair in love and war Tenchi!" The girl ran, bright pink pigtails flying as she dashed away from him, seeking shelter in the maze created by the instruments and containers inside their world. "Plus, my name's Washu-chan!"  
  
Tenchi laughed as he pursued his playmate, as he ran after his only companion in this lonely world of theirs. He didn't bother looking up, it was all the same. The same jet-black void that always greeted him whenever he lay on his back at night, trying to sleep.  
  
"I see you," he exclaimed as he hunted her through the maze. He had lost sight of her, but sometimes, if you gave them a reason to.  
  
There, he thought, seeing a flash of movement, a streak of pink in his peripheral vision. He kept moving on the same path, taking care to go around in a large circle around the obstacles, stalking her; his prey.  
  
Tenchi found her crouching, head slowly creeping out, looking for him. He grinned in glee. Tenchi barreled onto Washu, bowling her over in flurry of hair and her tunic. He laughed at the undignified position she was in, rushing to cover her skirt, socked feet splayed in the air. "You look like a tipped-over crab Washu. chan!"  
  
She growled as she struggled to get up. She. was not amused.  
  
"Now you're it Washu-chan!" With that declaration, Tenchi ran with all the speed his boy's body could give him. He weaved in and out of all the things in their environment, 'laboratory' Washu-chan told him. It was her laboratory. Weird, he thought, I've never seen her do any experiments. All we do is play.  
  
"Oooh!" There was no mistaking the pounding sounds coming after him. All Tenchi could do was run faster and hope that his irate companion would run out of steam before he collapsed in exhaustion. "I'm going to get you Tenchi!"  
  
"I'd like to see you try. crab," Tenchi teased, knowing that he was only going to make his eventual take-down all the more painful. Suddenly, he heard a crash behind him, followed by a yelp.  
  
Tenchi looked back and slowed to a stop, seeing Washu there, lying on the floor clutching her leg, bawling. "It hurts!" Worried, Tenchi ran back. As he stopped next to her, Washu's expression of pain changed to a maniacal expression, her teeth bared in the crazy smile she now sported. Tenchi saw her reach for his leg, and he ended up tripping over her. He was sprawled above her and he squirmed out. He ran, but not before taking her shoes, leaving her in her socks to run on the smooth floor.  
  
The boy ran as if the devil himself was after him; perhaps she was. He heard her tumble down once more, most likely thanks to her reduced traction, but he didn't look back. "Fool me once, shame on you," Tenchi gasped, trying to draw breath. "Fool me twice. shame on me!" With that parting shot, Tenchi ran into a garden, dashing past the trees. Although he thought he was running his fastest, her angry snarls sped him up. He threw them off the side and was rewarded by more sounds of tripping as Washu went after her footgear.  
  
He was now in a part of the lab he had never been before. He had already passed the plants, and most of the tanks filled with those weird creatures that frightened him.  
  
In the dim light that he ran through, he saw a yellow glow. It was emanating from a tank. It wasn't like the other lighted tanks. It was an eerie glow, flickering, the shadows it cast playing on its surroundings.  
  
To Tenchi, it was something new. So he ran towards it. He stopped, not caring what was behind him, urgently calling him back, telling him he won. Fat chance, Tenchi thought, not wanting to get lured into a trap again.  
  
Hypnotically, he was drawn by something projecting out of the tank. As he walked towards it, a horrified Washu slid past him as she tried to stop, rebounding off the tank's transparent walls. She dropped in a heap. Game/Death-Chase forgotten, Tenchi went to her side.  
  
"Are you okay Washu?" He supported her to a sitting position against the tank.  
  
"Idiot." she mumbled, reaching behind his head to grab his small mullet. She yanked him down so he was face to face with her. "Don't." she growled, "do that to me again. Do. You. Understand. Me."  
  
Tenchi nodded nervously, and fell back when she released him.  
  
"Washu-chan. don't you ever get lonely here," he asked her, taking a look around at a part of the sprawling 'laboratory' he had never been in before.  
  
For once, a smart comeback or death-threat did not return at his comments. When he looked back, he saw his sole companion staring back at him, horror in her face.  
  
"N-no Tenchi, I mean, its just us." Washu's voice sounded weak, pleading. "Its just us two kids. no one else. We have this entire place to ourselves!" She spread her arms out to express her point. Tenchi felt something in his chest ache as he looked at her expression. Her 'cute' face, Tenchi thought, contorted in anguish, equally dainty tears trickling forth.  
  
"I know." Tenchi said, poking at the floor with his bare foot. "But. don't you ever want to do anything else, aren't there more like us out there?"  
  
"No! There's no one like us. out there," Washu hissed in an acidic tone. Whether it was from the pain or something else, the boy Tenchi could not tell. Tenchi had only heard this voice a few times. always when she was alone. when she didn't think he was near. She talked about things he couldn't understand, something that made her sad, Tenchi reflected. Washu shakily stood up, Tenchi helping her. "You. you don't want to be with me anymore?"  
  
"No. it's not that," Tenchi was worried at the way Washu switched from happy-to-sad-to-happy. Now she looked like a lost cabbit, or what she showed him a cabbit was. "I mean, are we all there is Washu-chan?" Confused, he took comfort in her, embracing her. She took his juvenile body in her small arms, stroking him to soothe him as much as herself. "Why are we here?"  
  
Washu laughed at the irony of the boys words. Seven years old, and already asking some of the biggest questions sentient life has ever posed.  
  
"I remember someone." the boy mumbled. Washu's comforting hand froze in mid-carress. Her arms dropped. Tenchi was still attached to her, but only his embrace her them together.  
  
"Who." Washu meekly asked. In her eyes Tenchi saw, something struggled. At his age he could not tell that despair and hope fought a desperate battle within her. "Do-do you remember?"  
  
"I remember her." Tenchi murmured in her ear. He loosened his arms from her, stepping back.  
  
"Her." Washu's pulse quickened, and she wrung her small hands in anticipation.  
  
"Don't you remember her?" Tenchi looked distant, the glow casting its shadows across him.  
  
"Who."  
  
"Someone, when I was young. I remember someone taking care of me. she. she?" Tenchi paused, deep in thought. "She was. I don't know."  
  
"Your mother." Washu answered him. Her voice grew deeper. "Was she your mother Tenchi. what do you remember about her." Washu broke off, not wanting to imagine where the conversation was going.  
  
"Mother." Tenchi fumbled over the word, foreign to him as it rolled of his tongue. "I-I think she had pink hair." Tenchi turned to look straight into her hair. "Like you Washu-chan. She." Tenchi again went into reflection as Washu stood there helpless backing up against the forgotten tank. "She sounded like you Washu-chan. do you know her?"  
  
The boy was startled from his deep probes into his past as his companion chuckled. It was a dry one, devoid of humor, bitterness permeating the air it befouled. Washu's head was lowered, but Tenchi could not mistake the tell-tale droplets falling from her concealed face for anything but tears. A bright flash lit the area, causing Tenchi to avert his gaze.  
  
"I guess it was too good to last, wasn't it Tenchi," a familiar voice asked him.  
  
Tenchi blinked away the spots in his eyes as he turned his head towards the voice. His legs gave way at what he saw. Standing over him, bent over, with a mournful look down on him was a tall. girl. She was. big, he thought. Is this Washu? Her hair was in a darker red, but her eyes. there was no mistaking her eyes.  
  
Taking his shocked look for horror and disgust, she whipped about. What she saw in turn caused her to hiss. Tenchi stared past her at the tank, wondering what it could be. All he could see was the same yellow liquid, with something bright sticking out of the other end of the tank.  
  
"Damn you. damn me! Its. its all my fault!" With that, Washu sent her right fist arcing into the transparent wall, bouncing off impotently, causing damage only to herself. With a sharp bit-off cry of pain. or anguish, Washu fell to her knees, sobbing, arm curled into her as pain throbbed.  
  
Worried, Tenchi kneeled next to her, embracing her, something in him telling him to comfort her. Whatever it was that willed him, the boy followed. He took her right hand by the wrist, and tenderly kissed her bruised knuckles. As Washu numbly swiveled her head to look at him, Tenchi gave her a disarming smile. An all-too familiar disarming smile. "There, all better now," the boy told her.  
  
Without another word, the pain in her right hand forgotten. or healed, Washu pressed him to herself. A mother embracing her child, the only thing she has left to her with any real value. How long they stayed like this, she did not know. It was far too long since she held a child like this, an embrace more intimate than any lovers'.  
  
She stood up, noticing he had detached himself to go wander off and play. Probably confused at how 'Washu-chan' got all big. she thought sardonically, watching him walk around the tank. She looked into the amber mass. detesting it, asking herself why she did not destroy it. "Because there's still hope." Washu muttered, as if the words she uttered produced a bad taste.  
  
She looked back to Tenchi to see him reach towards a hilt embedded into the side of the tank. She stared at the green blade it projected, dimly noting that it was supposed to be blue, but the amber shade of the liquid. "Tenchi!" Washu ran after the boy, warning him not to touch it.  
  
She stood still, unable to do anymore as the boy confidently grasped the hilt, smoothly extracting the energy blade out, leaving a gash across the tank that healed itself immediately, and leaving no evidence of its extraction. Just as it had left not a trace of.  
  
The boy curiously looked at the device, its azure blade tasting air for the first time in years. Then it flickered short as the whole blade left the tank. But not before the liquid within reacted, some energy flowing into the sword, throwing the boy back several feet. Washu rushed to him, not wanting to expect the worse. "Not again." she moaned, helpless.  
  
The boy rose, a bit dazed. He looked around distractedly at his surroundings, examining his body. Tenchi saw Washu, and he blinked hard. "Washu, is that you? What's going on," the boy asked, dazed. Gone was the childish lisp he had, the voice was still young, yet not.  
  
"T-Tenchi?" Washu croaked, hoping. hoping that it was not a lie. That after all her tries. only after she had given up had she succeeded. "Tenchi?"  
  
"Yeah, are you okay Washu?" Tenchi wore a concerned look on his face. "Why am I in this body." He gestured to his body. "I look like a kid."  
  
Washu ran towards him, resolving to answer his question later. For now, she had to touch him. She had to know it was him, that he was real, that he had returned from the void he was taken into from them.  
  
She would be proven right. and wrong.  
  
The sword in the boy's hand pulsed, causing him to shiver. "Washu?" He asked her, voice small. Still running towards him, Washu helplessly watched as the Tenchi-ken released its energy, coursing through the boy's body. With a weak groan, the boy collapsed, the sword released from the instinctive grip, still crackling. "Why." he moaned, asking the sword, look back at Washu, reaching towards her with his left hand. His entire body was smoldering.  
  
Washu scooped him up in her arms, summoning her ethereal laptop to put him into stasis. "Not again."  
  
Tenchi's writhing body slackened in her arms. She felt a scorched hand, slick with his blood and liquefied flesh run along her cheeks, caressing her. She looked at shock into his eyes. Those deep, brown eyes. "Washu?" His voice was scared, afraid, insecure, and then it was no more.  
  
She sobbed, holding the boy in her arms. Lover resurrected; child born. one and the same: dead. She was robbed even of a physical set of remains to mourn. again! His body liquefied in her arms. turning into a gray goo, not sticking to her, instead pooling into a thick puddle at her knees. As Tenchi liquefied, she stared past him at another tank. The gray Masu floated there, flattening their bodies into one gray mass against the wall of the tank, gazing mournfully with their dot-like black eyes.  
  
Washu sobbed again. She cried for all that was taken from her. For all that she lost. For all that she could not touch. For all that she let slip between her fingers. All her brilliance had failed her; in fact, it had damned her to her fate.  
  
She stared at the fallen Tenchi-ken. With a wan smile, her hand groped towards it.  
  
***  
  
Washu's eyes opened in shock. She would've rolled around if not for something stopping her. From where she lay, she saw Tenchi, in his sleep. She felt her arms around him, feeling his heartbeat, his heat, his being in this sleeper's embrace. She felt one of his arms around her. She felt afraid. what had she dreamed of? She cursed the body's 'brain flush' when it came to dreams, no matter how vivid they were. Washu let herself grow comfortable in his arms once more; and once more cast herself adrift, ignoring the foreboding that coiled itself up in a corner. No matter. he was here. All is right with the world.  
  
End Scene.  
  
***Author's Notes***(you need to read this to help understand scene)  
  
What the fuck was that?  
  
Something I came up with in a single night after finally finding an angle on the way home, thinking while staring out the window of the Venture.  
  
Well, it ORIGINALLY was the 'aftermath' of the experiment that goes awry. I started it as a dark alternate ending at Washu became.  
  
Take a look at this. Its hidden in the story, but if you read the WHOLE SCENE(short), you should have been able to piece together with a little reflection that this is Washu again playing a favorite game: hiding within a shell.  
  
This took place after the ordeal(spoiler)that happens to Tenchi. In fact, about 8-9 years later. Washu shut herself off from the rest of the world, and using Tenchi's 'remains'(spoiler), an ova of hers, and the Masu(hence why I mentioned them at all), she created Tenchi. born from her body.  
  
Again, if you look at the subtle clues, Washu raised him and when he grew old enough, she transformed herself to this CHILD form so that Tenchi would have someone to keep him company as well as Washu needed it. Plus they would have 'grown up' together. Its not some kind of sick Oedipus Complex.  
  
Its just the aftermath of when the shit hits the fan in the fic. Washu's snapped, simply put. She's lost it all. so she crafts herself a second chance. She gets it. and loses it all too soon, almost in the blink of an eye actually(I wonder how many of you get that remark?).  
  
Note, it originally WAS one of the alternate endings. but I decided to make this Scene 1-1-1.5 Yup. Washu has her nightmare. this is it, and unlike the Lemon Twist.  
  
Well Jeff, Washu WAS still asleep @ that time, and you DID keep on telling me that I should do a Washu nightmare.  
  
Well guys, here it is.  
  
Yes, it IS a premonition just like Sasami's Vision, look @ the title!  
  
However, Washu doesn't remember any of it after she wakes up. not immediately @ least. Don't tell me that's never happened to you. Having the most intense, even lucid dream, but after you woke up, you remember little, if any at all about it.  
  
Man. this is going to be such a big monkey wrench in the rest of my fic. Well, @ least this gives Washu more depth.  
  
By the way, do ANY of you notice ANY patterns in the dreams the girls have? ***Author's Notes***  
  
Well, what did you think?  
  
Sick?  
  
Cruel(to Washu)?  
  
Hate it, like it, what?  
  
Man. if anyone of you even bothers with things like this: How many times does Tenchi die so far in this fic? Yes, the dreams count.  
  
You just read Scene 1.5 of Chapter 1 you guys. I'm going to have to reorganize seeing as this will turn to Scene 1-1-2.  
  
Harvey Bautista 


	5. 1x1x03 In Wine There is Truth

'In Wine There is Truth' v.1.1  
  
In the steam that permeated the onsen, two figures could be seen in the folds of mists. The first form had a spiky display of cyan as its coiffure; the other was a mass of royal purple. Only the upper parts of their bodies were not submerged in the water, as they stood back in the stone lip. Behind the two was a forgotten tray. On it was a collection of sake bottles. Some upright, some toppled over; all empty.  
  
Both were silent, seemingly oblivious of the other, continuing to sip away at their respective poison. Almost as if the only fixation they had was on their drink, breaking concentration from the transparent fluid only when they had to refill as they steadily drained the supply. The two were in a reflective mood, in their own little worlds that their thoughts placed them in. One wore a pink towel with white trim, and she smoothly downed the potent contents of her shallow sake cup with a deft flick of her wrist. The other wore what she was born into the world with, looking up to stare at the shrouded surroundings, trying to lose her thoughts in the shifting mists.  
  
There came a time when both went to refill their cups, only to find that their bottles were empty, not even a leftover drop clung to the curves within. Simultaneously both threw the 'empties' back, arching high behind them. The faint ringing that the porcelain created when it clattered across the stone floor acted as the signal to look for more. Their dull, blank stares changed to a focus; hunting for that one last source of obliviousness. There! Both saw their prey floating, a boey in a still bay shrouded by coastal fog. As they reached for the large glass bottle that continued to bob, their hands met in grasping for its slender, smooth, cylindrical neck. The bottle of vodka was raised into the air as they pulled up, the 'piece du resistance' between them. Following the odd routine of synchronicity both grunted in an inebriated fashion before looking at the other arm holding onto their prize, then onto the owner of that arm. The dull mirrored glaze faded as topaz met ruby, replaced by an acuity a raptor would have envied. In the space between their eyes, it was as if sparks flew, the two sets of gazes glaring at the other, seeking dominance. After several long moments, both blinked, breaking the impromptu staring contest.  
  
Whether it was from the onsen, the alcohol, the other's presence, or some combination of the three, both girls' temperatures rose. It accompanied the reddening of one caused by consuming too much of the rice- wine.  
  
Both looked down where their hands communally held the bottle, the small part of them still sober wondering just how life seemed to have it in for them somehow. Held between them was their vessel of distraction, the means of escape from which they ran away from confronting their problems. Whatever fire the sake had given them was extinguished as they were struck by reality in the form of irony.  
  
Loosening their grasps, the bottle dropped, disappearing for a moment under the milky sea until it resurfaced with a triumphant jump, tumbling in mid-air like a graceful creature they have seen on television before turning a buoy once more. Like the millennia-long struggle between the cliff and the sea, the girls were finally worn down. Like the cascading earth dislodged by eons of being battered by the elements, the girls staggered into the onsen, dull saffron staring into somber burgundy.  
  
Simultaneously, the two laughed, as well they could at least, finding twisted humor in themselves and their commiseration. One could've been a princess, the other a pirate. yet they looked the same in their current state. Lost, lonely, their despair enhanced by inebriation, their 'reprieve' only enhancing their downtrodden condition.  
  
"What did. what did we go here for again, Ryoko," one slurred, weaving about lightly where she was harbored, small currents in the water emanating from her, small bow waves disturbing the harmony of the still surface. She bent over when a small hiccup escaped her, followed by another, and yet more till she stopped her ignorant convulsions.  
  
Ryoko chuckled at her, before going into a series of hiccupping herself. "To get plastered-" she belched. "It got too damn sugary for me back there, Aeka." She shook her head, as if it would help alleviate the light headache that had taken form.  
  
"I suppose," Aeka agreed softly, "it was an. odd sight to see."  
  
Ryoko shook her head lightly, looking cynically at her drinking companion. "You mean you wish it was you, neh?" Ryoko inquired in a jovial tone.  
  
"Must you point out the obvious? To my knowledge, you were. in the same boat I was in," Aeka grumbled, repressing a small growl as she felt her hackles rise.  
  
Aeka was surprised when, instead of throwing something else back at her, Ryoko chose instead to hair her hands slightly, empty palms facing her. It was a gesture of peace, not that Ryoko was backing down to her, just that she didn't want to fight. Well, at least not yet.  
  
"They beat us to it again, didn't they?" Ryoko joked lightly, relaxing in the water, letting herself float half-submerged on her back, her hands making small ripples in the water, creating a very aesthetic picture of energy at rest.  
  
Aeka turned to look at her, kneeling down slightly on their shallow end of the onsen, her neck slightly above water. She noted that a large section of her locks must be soaking up the heated water something awful. She repressed a dejected sigh, momentarily wishing that the alcohol haze was there. "Its really frustrating at times," Aeka murmured, nodding, "it seems as if it takes more and more sake every time to get me drunk."  
  
"You mean you're still sober," Ryoko inquired cupidly. Aeka lifted a hand out of the water and pinched the air lightly.  
  
"No. I'm a bit just a little." Aeka searched for the words, knowing she just left herself open for a remark, "'buzzed' though."  
  
"Nice to see you learning to hold your booze. princess," Ryoko quipped, still staring at the ceiling as she floated, the small current she caused with her hands lapping gently up at the sides of her face, several of her cyan locks acting like booms, being slicked back against her cheeks, then floating free again.  
  
Aeka groaned lightly. "Could you drop the title?"  
  
Ryoko 'mm'-ed in a playful manner.  
  
"If you're not going to use my title without respect, don't even bother." Aeka clarified, hoping that Ryoko wouldn't keep on being so obtuse, well, rather stop being so acute in her badgering. The water was so lovely.  
  
"Not like you're even acting the part." It was phrased in Ryoko's normal dusky tone.  
  
"You're right," Aeka replied, smiling as she savored the experience, "I haven't fulfilled my duties in so long."  
  
"Fun ain't it?" Ryoko pointed out, poking open cat-like eye to swivel towards her.  
  
Aeka smiled broadly, nodding sincerely, letting herself sink slightly deeper in the water. she could feel the pool on her lower lip. "Yes, quite."  
  
***  
  
"What we're you all doing down there?" Aeka brought up, looking over at her floating companion.  
  
"This again?" Ryoko replied with a question of her own. "Had a nightmare, remember?"  
  
Something about the pirate's tone didn't match the cavalier phrasing of her response.  
  
"What was it about, Ryoko?"  
  
Ryoko oriented herself to where she was standing again. She took a moment to answer... an oddity that Aeka noted.  
  
"He died." Ryoko stated dully, but in a clear manner.  
  
"Eh?"   
  
"Tenchi died." Ryoko didn't bother to reply with a smart-aleck remark.  
  
"How?" Now Aeka was intrigued. She was worried that she might be inquiring too deeply... but it was an interesting topic.  
  
"Because of me." Ryoko turned to face her, a bland expression in her eyes. Her indifferent visage gave away nothing, but her amber eyes hid nothing. Before Aeka could probe her again, Ryoko continued. "Remember the time he went to rescue me from him, the Bastard?" Aeka ignored Ryoko's denial of her part in the rescue, intentional or otherwise. "We were still aboard Shoja, Tenchi had just returned... Kagato was still there." Dejectedly, she dropped to her knees, creating a splash.   
  
"The Duel..." Aeka concluded.  
  
"It didn't go the same way," Ryoko continued, "I was scared... I was just so... so scared."  
  
Aeka was still dumbstruck by her admission, by the pirate's admission of weakness. She clumsily waded over, arms swaying off to her sides, stopping when she was next to Ryoko, who was hugging herself, her head, hidden by her crown of cyan, resting on her kneecaps.  
  
Aeka felt awkward, unsure of how to handle this. A child... she's just a child, Aeka thought, not being able to help feeling pity... no, sympathy towards Ryoko. Aeka responded in a way she knew how; she placed her hands on Ryoko's shoulders, refraining from cooing, like how she would have done with Sasami.  
  
Ryoko let out a few sniffles before she was able to talk, still facing away from Aeka. "Until I saw him, I was still frightened, that he was gone... gone," Ryoko croaked.  
  
Her companion had a reassuring reply on the tip of her tongue, but she closed her mouth, knowing that anything she could say wouldn't help the situation.  
  
"You know the worst part is Aeka," Ryoko laughed softly. It was a nervous laugh...  
  
"What is it Ryoko?" Aeka replied in a tone normally reserved for comforting her sister after a particularly bad dream.  
  
"I still am," Ryoko admitted again, letting go of any shame she might have had, knowing that she was giving Aeka all the rope she needed to hang her.  
  
Aeka nodded, leaning over Ryoko's shoulder. She giggled nervously. She whispered into her ear. "You know... I am too, sometimes."  
  
***  
  
"You know," Ryoko brought up.  
  
"No. I do not," Aeka replied, blinking softly as she was roused from where she sat, half-conscious, savoring the sensation of drifting in. and drifting out, much so like the light tide that lapped up against her chin every now and then, like a very slow metronome. She sat in the bottom of the onsen, arms around her legs, enjoying being tickled at her jawline by the water.  
  
"They really got us, didn't they?"  
  
Haven't we gone over this? Aeka groaned inside.  
  
"How?" Aeka yawned, swiveling her head slowly towards Ryoko, popping open a shut eye, contemplating her companion.  
  
Ryoko snorted lightly. "Come on, you don't think they really were asleep, did you?" The dubious tone helped drive her message through.  
  
Regretfully, the topic cut through the blessed haze that Aeka was in. She grumbled lightly as she contemplated Ryoko's statement. She stifled the urge to strike the water when enough of her synapses were allocated towards that particular thought-stream.  
  
"Why that little-"  
  
"-Angel?" Ryoko quipped, a wide and short curved 'm', a mieu, serving as her all-too-knowing smile. Her saffron eyes danced about.  
  
En Guarde.  
  
Aeka fumed, then smiled in her own fashion as well. Ryoko felt an involuntary shudder coming on.  
  
"Washu, actually."  
  
Riposte.  
  
Both glared at the other, the tension building up.  
  
Which was promptly released when they both burst out laughing, albeit softly.  
  
Coupe.  
  
"Wish I thought of it first," Ryoko said, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye.  
  
Aeka shook her head. "No, neither of us could have those little demonic angel expressions, could we?" she finished rhetorically.  
  
"Demonic angel?" Ryoko repeated. "Nah, I don't think we could've pulled it off. Still."  
  
"Tell me about it," Aeka replied.  
  
"Sucks, neh?"  
  
"Damned if it doesn't."  
  
"I swear, Washu overshadowed us," Ryoko confessed.  
  
"Don't forget Sasami."  
  
An awkward paused ensued.  
  
"Ah shit."  
  
"Damn."  
  
The laughter that followed was a bit forced.  
  
Ryoko spoke first. "Well, don't be so down about it." She shrugged. "After all, it isn't as if Tenchi is like that."  
  
"No, he isn't," Aeka concurred. "A bit odd."  
  
"Are you complaining?" Ryoko followed up.  
  
Aeka nodded. "Actually, yes, I do mind. in a sense."  
  
"I should know. neh?" Ryoko joked.  
  
Aeka chuckled.  
  
It was obvious to any observer that it was a dry exchange.  
  
Between them, they noticed something. There it was, bobbing softly, bottle of forgotten libation. and it shone.  
  
The two shared a look.  
  
Aeka went towards shore.  
  
Ryoko churned forwards.  
  
Aeka returned with two sake cups, held between the fingers of her right hand.  
  
Ryoko returned with the bottle, grasping it by the body, where the label was beyond soggy and already had slipped off, she could feel the letters imprinted on the bottle spell out it's name: Starka.  
  
Aeka only shook her head lightly. "Another won't hurt."  
  
"Nah," Ryoko agreed, "I don't think it'll do any harm." She peeled off the foil label, discarding it in the water. There was a satisfying sound as the cap was taken off, and fangs bared, Ryoko pulled out the plug with her teeth. She was about to take an instinctive swig when Aeka coughed. "Sorry." She held the bottle out to Aeka.  
  
The princess gingerly poured from her left hand to her right. Miraculously, the clear liquid skirted only the cups' edges, staying within, swishing about.  
  
"To." Ryoko proposed awkwardly, "us?"  
  
"Better than them," Aeka drawled. She shuddered as the 'shot' she kicked her in the gut. The warmth spread immediately, causing her to shiver in the steaming pool, her throat a bit raw from the fiery trail it left behind.  
  
"That Sasami." Ryoko began, "wow."  
  
"You can say that again," Aeka agreed with a not a small amount of pride mixed in with her sadness. What do you call this? Bittersweet?  
  
"That Sasami-"  
  
Ryoko was cut off by an annoyed glance. Aeka simply sighed, pouring the two of them another round.  
  
"I understand Ryoko. She's. my little sister is. she's-" Aeka struggled to find the words, something that would do her sibling justice.  
  
"Perfect, well, as perfect as someone who's not a Goddess can be," Ryoko offered, raising her cup lightly, as if to the girl in question as she took her second toast. "I'd think that she'd be what any man wants." She coughed lightly, and not from the drink. "I mean, you know what they say here, right?" She cocked her head, twirling her sake cup on a finger. "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."  
  
"If that's the case, then Tenchi already belongs to her," Aeka replied, not denying, not acknowledging, simply responding. "I burn water." she drawled, lightly slapping the water around her.  
  
Ryoko clucked at her condescendingly. "Giving up, Aeka-hime no Jurai?" The use of a formal title stuck the barb in deeper than it should have. Ryoko smiled. "Beaten by a child, beaten by a Goddess. which would you pick?"  
  
"Neither," Aeka declared silently, and the iron fist within the silken glove clenched. "I would triumph."  
  
"Over your own blood," Ryoko said incredulously.  
  
"No." Aeka sighed, relaxing, and slipping back into the folds of mists.  
  
"I didn't mean it that way, you know?"  
  
"I love her, I really do," Aeka said. "But."  
  
"Why are we even worrying about this," Ryoko asked, a silly expression on her face. "We sound like a couple of old hags."  
  
Aeka wisely kept quiet.  
  
"It's not like Tenchi is gonna marry her tomorrow!" Ryoko emphasized, laughing. Laughing at them and the melodrama they wallowed in. "If you're so worried about it princess," she joked, "you still have time! Sasami is still a kid! So what, huh?" Ryoko exclaimed. "She'll be prettier than we are, Tenchi's not like that! So she can cook, big deal. Ooh, Sasami can clean. Why does it matter that she would probably make the perfect wife for him!"  
  
"She's never made him angry."  
  
"And Mihoshi hasn't either, what does it matter!" Ryoko countered, growing upset at Aeka's defeatist attitude.  
  
"Out of all of us, she's the one closest to him." Aeka said half to herself.  
  
"What? Wait, what the hell are you talking about." Ryoko muttered, thrown off her curve.  
  
"Look Ryoko," Aeka began, voice growing clearer. "She all but embraces him as her brother."  
  
"And. isn't that a good thing?" Ryoko emphasized, taking the bottle from her idle companion, pouring both of them a round. Aeka woodenly took her third shot while Ryoko did not even wait for the liquid to spill out of her cup, licking it off.  
  
"You haven't seen the looks?"  
  
"Yeah." What is it with you Juraians. and within your own family! Yuck!  
  
"It'll turn to something else. She'll wait you know," Aeka babbled, garnet eyes shining with. madness?  
  
"Aeka. are you all right?"  
  
Aeka's giggled didn't serve to alleviate her unease. "That little schemer," she remarked ruefully. "Remember when we all fell for that Manga prank of hers?"  
  
"Yeah." Ryoko drawled, "but I still don't see how-"  
  
"This is just like that." Aeka smiled sadly, "to think. we're doing most of the work for her."  
  
"Aeka, Sasami isn't trying to steal Tenchi away-" Ryoko tried to calm her companion down, who was scaring her. just a little. It's Sasami. What is Aeka's problem? It can't be sibling rivalry or anything like that. those two are the perfect pair of sisters.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off like that," Aeka apologized, seeming to deflate. "It's just that. I'm afraid of the future."  
  
"Why, it isn't here yet." Ryoko felt sorry for the wound-up royal.  
  
Aeka looked curiously back up at her companion. "It will be."  
  
"Why are you talking like Sasami is some evil woman who is going to steal Tenchi away from us." Ryoko snapped her fingers, "like that! She's just a child!"  
  
Aeka noted Ryoko's use of 'us' instead of 'me.'  
  
"Yes, she is Ryoko, she is my little sister," Aeka shook her head. "But she will. Sasami, my Sasami, will never do anything like that to me, to us. It'll break apart her little family here," she gestured, arms out wide, indicating the whole onsen, but leaving little question as to what she meant. "Not intentionally." she finished in a hushed voice.  
  
"Family, who, us?" Ryoko then nodded, understanding. "I guess we are something like a." she hesitated awkwardly, "family to her. right now."  
  
"I can't blame her," Aeka replied softly. She gestured lightly with her hand. "This is exactly the type of childhood that she should have." Aeka flushed lightly. "well, minus all the cooking. but, she only does part of the cleaning," Aeka hurriedly amended.  
  
"Why would you?" Ryoko inquired. "I mean, you do get pissy and all," she continued, heedless of Aeka's twitching cheek, "but, jealous of your own sister, that's not like you."  
  
"Getting back to the point, Ryoko," Aeka proposed, "We will push him away."  
  
Ryoko's attention was piqued again. "How? Show me some proof!"  
  
She yelped when Aeka flicked the bottle's cork into her face, bouncing off her nose, causing Ryoko to flinch. Silence ensued for several moments. Trembling, Ryoko raised her forearm out of the water and lashed out at Aeka, who now had a smug, aloof expression.  
  
Almost as if she was expecting a blow. Grudgingly, Ryoko stayed her strike.  
  
"I rest my case," Aeka stated simply.  
  
"We're not that bad-" Ryoko tried to plead, but Aeka's expression never wavered. "We have our limits."  
  
Aeka nodded. "Yes, but not definite boundaries. They will keep on extending, and even then we will overstep them." Her crimson eyes locked onto amber. "It should only take one incident Ryoko." Aeka held up a finger in emphasis. "Plus. for each one, every meaningless fight that we have, the more we push Tenchi away."  
  
"But." Ryoko was growing distraught. "Why?"  
  
Aeka stifled a light sob, hiding it as a hiccup as she shot back another round. "Because," she paused, "it is not worth the pain."  
  
Ryoko let that thought sink into her head. "I think I understand." Aeka looked at her. "Well, some of it, at least. But, honestly Aeka. what the hell do we do?"  
  
"I'm still thinking about that," Aeka replied dryly.  
  
"It's not like we're just going to be friends from now on are we?" Ryoko pondered to herself.  
  
"Ryoko." Aeka said, trying to think of a solution.  
  
"Come on, we hated each other's guts at one point, don't you call that 'progress' now?" Ryoko continued.  
  
"Ryoko." Aeka repeated.  
  
"Next thing you know, you'll propose something crazy like us sharing him." Ryoko went on in a dubious tone, heedless of her companion right beside her.  
  
"Ryoko!" Aeka finally screamed.  
  
"Aeka," Ryoko replied.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Ryoko sighed. Clumsily, she strode over towards her companion. "Loosen up."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Aeka was surprised when she felt a warm wave engulf her. While she was used to being in water that turned her 'beautiful, tender, young' skin a light shade of rose, her head was more or less dry. She shrieked, only inhaling more of the water. If it was possible, the water tasted as if it had silt. She coughed instinctively, furiously snapping open her eyes.  
  
Ryoko wasn't there. It didn't take too long for the neurons and synapses in Aeka's acute -in most respects- intellect to figure what had just happened. Her quarry's mocking laughter echoing in the Onsen chamber served only to put her mind through a red haze. Resolutions be damned, she thought, disregarding her hypocrisy as she scanned her surroundings, summoning several of her little 'accessories.' It's on now!  
  
***  
"It still hurts. Yeah. its not as if Tenchi cares about nobility or anything, does he?"  
  
"No, he does not." Aeka sighed again, and Ryoko stifled the urge to follow along. "He isn't like that. He's more like a-"  
  
"Commoner?" Ryoko finished. "Yeah. odd considering his family." She turned to face Aeka, who didn't seem to take offense where none was meant.  
  
"No," Aeka disagreed. "Yosho," she clarified. "After the-" Aeka drifted off. "He ran away. He gave up everything to live a simple life here." She slumped back into the water, squatting on her haunches, not giving a damn how she looked. "He abandoned-"  
  
"You?" Ryoko softly remarked. Or is it because he could ditch his responsibilities and you couldn't?  
  
Aeka's silence marked her reply. 


	6. 1x1x04 Awakening

"Awakening" v.1.2 ID # 1-1-04 (Arc 1, Chapter 1, Scene Four)  
  
The paneled door slid open and shut as a bright, albeit wobbly Mihoshi went into the house. Happily, she hummed a tune familiar to her, loving how it seemed to go with this wonderful morning. She paused mid- stride and turned to look back at the shoji door. Hmm, she wondered, I wonder why they were all snuggled together, she inquired, finding the situation a bit too strange to swallow so early in the morn.' She giggled. Too bad I won't be there to see what happens with those two in his arms. I wish it was me. she thought, a dark streak of crimson came across her cheekbones and nose as she continued to giggle mirthfully; she couldn't help it.  
  
Mihoshi detached her little puff from her belt, and it transformed into its primary shape as a lustrous magenta cube in her hands. Now, where do I change? She looked down at her uniform, still immaculately pressed, but it never was something meant for one to fall asleep in. Great, I'm going to be sore again. The woman ascended the stairs, stretching her arms above her head as she did so, letting out a long yawn. She paused at the upstairs bathroom door, which to the gentler sex of the Masaki Residence, led to the floating Onsen Island Washu had created. Nah, she thought as her stomach lightly growled its own needs, I'll take one later, I'll just change and go back downstairs.  
  
She heard Tenchi's door shift lightly against its frame. What's this? She knocked lightly, knowing that everyone, well everyone except Aeka and Ryoko were downstairs. A sly grin crept across her face for a moment. Now, if they are in there, what could they be doing? Not hearing a response, she opened the door and walked in. Oh, no one here. she thought, not disappointed at all, he left the balcony door open, no wonder, wind's moving the door.  
  
"Hope he doesn't mind," she said, "I don't have my own room, so." Not that she minded, especially not now. She still wondered at how easily a form fitting uniform came off. Ah, technology finally catches up to fashion. Though it was a bit too sexy, it was ergonomic and functional, plus, Mihoshi reflected, I make it look good. Mihoshi pointed one of the cube's six faces at the discarded bundle on Tenchi's floor, noting how oddly appealing they were there as the uniform was sucked in.  
  
She sighed. Oh no, don't tell me I'm turning into Aeka, she grumbled as she resisted indulging a particularly. 'stimulating' probability she had contemplated more than once. I swear, that girl is deprived. Royalty, she snorted, guess they don't have it so easy after all, she shrugged.  
  
The off-duty GP detective manipulated the cube, noting how it looked like on of those cubes Tenchi had around the house, fumbling for the right combination, praying that it does what she wants it to do. She had a tough time explaining before about how she dumped a fully-equipped combat exoskeleton into the dining table before during dinner, all for a napkin, she thought embarrassedly. How many years have I had this thing, and I still can't use it, well I signed on as a people person, not a techy!  
  
Thankfully, all the items that fell as she struggled to find the proper combination were minor; a disassembled sidearm, a small stash of snacks, and several volumes of a shojo manga that she found fascinating. Success! she exulted. "One of these days I need Washu to make me a user- friendly version of this," she sighed. "I think the insults will be worth it." Really, whoever made this thing must have been some sadistic smartass.  
  
Mihoshi slumped down onto the bed as the weight of her world finally made itself fell. She lay on it, with knees bent on the edge, her feet still on the floor. Shaking her head softly, and placing a wan smile on her face, Mihoshi rose and looked down at the fifth bundle, the one which she had sought.  
  
With a depression of a finger, miraculously the cube worked, and a small mirror projected itself against the wall opposite Tenchi's bed. She rose and admired her figure, wondering how Tenchi would react if he saw her now. in her underwear, white, pure, virginal slips, hugging her toned, firm bronze skin Oh no. don't go there Mihoshi, she censured herself. Optopsychological Warfare indeed!  
  
Nah. the poor boy would probably die from all the blood rushing his head. She chuckled. A stroke at such a young age.  
  
Stretching upright again, reaching down to feel her toes as they wiggled, Mihoshi took a deep inhalation of the room's air. Due to the fact that it was left open all night to the outside, it felt chill. dew, it smells like dew, she contemplated that oddity. She frowned, shaking her head at what she was thinking.  
  
She slipped on a baggy teal vest complemented and into a pair of beige cargo shorts. She remembered seeing that style of clothing on television before, and she regretted not having a sunhat to go along with the creased clothing. Even with all the buttons on. it seemed, that it was just too. seductive? Nah, she thought sardonically, they won't think of it that way. It can't be; the ditz, the bubbled trying to be sexy? Nah, she's too busy looking forward to her show, much less looking at Tenchi that way. She nodded approvingly at her reflection, admiring the color combination. "Matches and contrasts. nice!"  
  
"Sometimes," she murmured standing up and walking to the doorway, "is he faking it? Like I am?" Mihoshi wondered. She chuckled, clapping lightly. "It took me this long to figure it out," she remarked, looking at the relatively bland composition of Tenchi's room. "Simple, but functional, almost elegant," she mused, smiling. "It suits him," she observed.  
  
As if on cue, a small symphony of birdcalls sang back. Tenchi the home decorator? No, I don't see it. She chuckled.  
  
"Oh, right," Mihoshi said, stepping back into the room.  
  
The cube absorbed all of her discarded possessions. She stared out the glass balcony door. She saw the water. "Wow," she gasped, marveling at how the sun lit up the waterside. "I wonder what the dawn looks like." Then she saw something unusual. Where there should be pristine grass were earthen scars. She followed the trail, as if left by some trampling beast to its end. "Yukinojo?" she wondered. "Oh." she let out when she remembered the events of the last night.  
  
Let's see. I was coming home from patrol. Ara! I forgot to hop into hyperspace, so that meant I rode it all the way down to the surface from orbit. Not again, that's nine of eleven so far. Mihoshi let out a depressed sigh. Great, and I'm supposed to remain undetected, Mihoshi shook her head in resignation, I wouldn't be surprised if they detected me inbound. Well, at least I pulled out of it.  
  
It didn't take much of Mihoshi's deductive skills to come up with how she ended up where she woke up. So he pulled me out of the wreckage, and carried me onto the deck. Theatrically, Mihoshi place the back of her hand against her forehead, arching slightly. "My hero." she sighed, "for the seventh time," she finished.  
  
"That patrol was a waste. nothing happened," Mihoshi reflected Then again, boring is a good thing in my line of work," she joked to herself. Yet they wonder I enjoy being so lazy?  
  
"Still, another dumbass mistake Mihoshi," she berated herself. "No wonder you couldn't find another partner." She laughed dryly as she sat down hard on Tenchi's bed, clasping his sheets.  
  
No! Her mental self screamed. But something in her mind. locked away in the depths of forgotten - repressed - memories, something tried to claw out. Something which she would have been perfectly happy to have disappear, never to be thought on again.  
  
Guilt. The feeling seemed to burn its way through her consciousness, constricting her ability to think, to act. Blame. It followed its predecessor, burrowing itself into as many niches as it could in her mind. Failure. A third demon invaded her thoughts.  
  
Her mind screamed back, its not my fault!  
  
But, her mind was split, one wanting to forget, the other accusing. Mihoshi's worst enemy was her own self, her subliminal self. It was her own conscience, warped by regret, sorrow, and negligence, left to fester, that fermented into a potent brew of misery. She experienced agony that she believed to be deserved, one accusing her of being weak, pathetic, worthless.  
  
One that accused her of being a coward, a hypocrite. a murderess.  
  
Mihoshi moaned lightly, her entire body clenching, muscles tensing, her face scrunched up in discomfort as she curled up into a fetal position on Tenchi's bed, her hands framing her head as she lightly sobbed. "Go away, please, go away!" a frantic Mihoshi pleaded. As she fought a losing battle, a part of her just observed, seemingly detached, almost seeing the situation unfold from another body. She started to hyperventilate, moaning in anguish, much in the same way a distraught child would.  
  
This representation of Mihoshi in her mind smiled wanly, a hungry gleam in her dull turquoise eyes.  
  
Just as suddenly as the attack began, Mihoshi's left hand groped for the cube from where it fell on the bed. With a quick flick, as Mihoshi's body continued to quake, her breathing still unsteady and rapid, her fingers set the proper combination and a small cube popped out. With an out-of-place sense of awareness, she effortlessly plucked it out of the air with her right hand, which was gnarled into a claw, and popped it into her mouth. Immediately, the feral glint in her eyes went from a stormy azure to a lucid cerulean, the chaos turning into clouds. She lost the tension in her body.  
  
She rose, looking dazed as she sat up on the bed. She stood, frowning as she stared at her crumpled clothes, erasing them with her hands, returning their perfect creases. She took her final item, a burgundy ribbon, and matched it up against her saffron tresses, and tied it into a bow.  
  
As she walked out of the room, she shuddered one more time, the blank expression on her face turning bright as she continued on her way, wobbling lightly.  
  
"Minty," she said, giggling to herself.  
  
As she traversed the hallway, and down the stairs, and into the living room, Mihoshi remained silent, having to resist the temptation to stare at everything. even at the clutter on the living room coffee table. "It's the little things." She was humming the same tune all the while. except an octave higher, and at an accelerated timing.  
  
For a moment, some small part of her felt like snorting in disgust, but it quickly passed as a wave of bliss engulfed her again, and she sighed, letting herself float in its warm, reassuring folds.  
  
She slid open the deck's door, and stuck her neck out, stopping her humming for the moment. She saw all three, still attached to each other, sound asleep, or looking like it.  
  
As she strode over to look over the three, she sighed happily. "Cute." she stated, looking at how Tenchi, on either side was smothered by Washu on his right, Sasami clinging to him on his left. "They look just like a family." she pondered, staring at how all three seemed so content, Sasami the daughter, Washu the mother, and Tenchi the father.  
  
Mihoshi didn't feel jealous. No, she felt. satisfied.  
  
Her fond smile turned into an overjoyed grin as she once again used her cube. This time, she pointed it at them and depressed her index finger. "It's a Kodak moment!" she joked. Plus, there are some things you can't catch in a picture, she mused, as she heard snoring. which was coming from Sasami, earning her a smile. How cute. Mihoshi simply chuckled as a small line of drool came out of the side of Washu's mouth.  
  
Her hands fidgeted a bit, but a mischievous glint came to her eyes, and she kneeled next to Washu, proceeding to take more images of the no- longer diminutive scientist, much in the same way and professionalism a forensic investigator would do so. That fact was oddly squashed down in her mind, not even noting a second glance.  
  
A flash of inspiration raced through her. Mihoshi felt giddy. Reverting the cube back to its puffball form, she attached it to the back of her shorts, looking very much like a rabbit's tail, she noted.  
  
"If you only knew," she whispered to the sleeping boy.  
  
She continued to kneel, and proceeded to lay over Tenchi, trying not touch either Washu or Sasami as she supported herself on her arms. She took each hand and placed it against his torso, one at a time, and eased her weight down on him. With as much ease as she made it look, Mihoshi slid up his body, molding herself against him even better than Sasami or Washu accomplished, her left leg pushing away Washu's right, which was strewn almost possessively across Tenchi's. There, she sighed, bliss.  
  
Taking a cue from what the other two had done, and no, they had not fooled her, Mihoshi nuzzled up against Tenchi, laying her check against his chest, content to let her new combination mattress and pillow, complete with comforting body heat, which rose and ebbed so softly, but she could hear every pulse that his heart sent out, almost let her fall into sleep again.  
  
Wait, Mihoshi realized, this is supposed to be a joke. But it feels so good, she admitted.  
  
Even though she was all but one with him at this point, she tried to cuddle closer to him, somehow smoothening out the annoying wrinkles of their clothes between them. Not that he had reason to complain, had he been awake.  
  
Tenchi started having trouble breathing. He was spending more effort for less air, he realized. Instinctively, he regained consciousness, but was content to let himself float in a lucid state, back to his dreams. Somewhere in which he had some control. So warm. he noted, feeling blanketed by touch. four separate presences seeming to engulf him. An onsen. he reasoned, feeling as if only his head was above this sea of tranquility.  
  
Wait. onsen? It was a. strange night. Might as well get up, he reluctantly admitted, not wanting to leave such serenity; a fleeting Nirvana. To him, Enlightenment could go kiss his scrawny ass.  
  
He opened his eyes, remembering where he fell asleep, bracing for an onslaught of sunlight, which, while beautiful, was torture on eyes, which have only been shut for several hours, was used to the night's dark shades.  
  
He was greeted by a shade of saffron. He was expecting this color. but it was so soft. He could almost smell it, it seemed so close. Honey? He thought, puzzled. The sun smells like honey? The honey-flavored sunlight tickled his nose.  
  
He exhaled, blowing them away, but only sent more against him; golden threads covered the lower half of his face. Instinctively, he moved his arms to remove it, wondering why the sun didn't burn, but instead, tickled. He couldn't move them, they were encumbered.  
  
Inwardly, some part of him groaned. He hadn't even woken up, and already his day had complicated.  
  
Its hair, Tenchi realized. Yellow hair. oh, its Mihoshi. He yawned as wide as he could, not wanting to get any of the golden strands in his mouth. The sour smell spoiled the honeyed atmosphere. What did I do last night? Oh. yeah, I put everyone to sleep here.  
  
"Mihoshi?" Tenchi yawned out.  
  
Her ear still pressed to his rising and ebbing chest, Mihoshi grinned. Phase two - execute! She too yawned, and Tenchi finally connected the weight encumbering his chest, torso, and legs to the mass of fair hair and a textured burgundy bow that he spoke to.  
  
She yawned lightly, sounding as if she too was just roused from slumber's embrace. She nuzzled his chest lightly, slowly raising her head, and sapphire met opal. She blinked tiredly for effect, her expression shifting unwittingly into a fool's smile, one, that while goofy, was sincere. "Thanks for last night Tenchi," she mumbled, beginning to blush.  
  
Tenchi only blinked. Wait, wha? "Excuse me?"  
  
His confusion was understandable; he had just woken up, and his mind slowly accelerated to its normal performance.  
  
"Last. Night," Mihoshi enunciated softly, dreamily. She winked at him, a soft womanly laugh that Tenchi both felt and heard, a slight trill against his stomach. "Was it good for you too?" She snuggled for effect.  
  
Tenchi absorbed Mihoshi's words.  
  
Well, it is true, Mihoshi told herself, keeping her laughter inside. It's up to him to interpret it whichever way he does. Hey, aren't blondes supposed to have fun too?  
  
She stared back into Tenchi's eyes. His mouth went slack, then shut, and as they opened again, he let out a small choked gasp, and he went back to the land of dreams, the tension that gripped him leaving his body once again.  
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I guess I took it too far didn't I?" She smiled wanly, returning her head to its previous place; her ear against his chest, feeling his beat: rhythmic and soothing. You don't mind, do you? she questioned him silently. I didn't think you'd faint, she thought bemused. No, that doesn't mean I think your weak Tenchi. No, you've helped me a lot. Not just then when you rescued me. Mihoshi yawned in mid- thought. All the times you've rescued me. You gave me a home. A place I can feel safe. Tenchi, its nice to know someone cares. All this. and you never ask anything in return. Well, some peace, but not from me, no, I would never trouble you. You've saved me from dying before, but can you save me from myself?  
  
I've never asked you to help me before, but you still did, Mihoshi fondly thought. Do I have to ask you for that? No. I'll never tell.  
  
Mihoshi heard a groan off to her left, cutting off her contemplation and reflections. It sounded different, more mature, but it was still the same person. Mihoshi sighed to herself. Time to replace the mask, she thought, preparing herself to step into her disguise, her shield, her retreat.  
  
She moved to stand up, defying the force of attraction holding them together: gravity. She paused, her hands holding her up on either side of his head, while her knees and shins maintained a wobbly stance on his own thighs.  
  
Like I care if that little-err-big troll sees me. She's guilty of the same thing, Mihoshi reasoned, performing a push-up while on the boy. Mihoshi was almost pleased when a groggy Washu popped open a muddled jade eye and saw her. She was tempted to kiss him on the lips, but no, Mihoshi realized. She would have done so to spite Washu, and she felt a shameful wave pass through her at the thought of using Tenchi to get back at one of those who hurt her, maliciously or not.  
  
Instead, Mihoshi gave him a chaste kiss on his left cheek, so Washu could still see Tenchi's profile and not be too offended. Mihoshi wrinkled her nose at his breath, which tickled the baby hairs at the edge of her hairline. Still, it was perfect. Reluctantly, she performed the second half of the push-up and rose.  
  
She felt cold. Not just from the departure from his shared heat, but from how she detached herself from his presence. No. she could still feel him. Just a small bit, but yet there he was. Unconscious, but vibrant. It wasn't just his heartbeat that she sensed as she was against him, but his being, his kokoro, his soul. She felt a small bond linking the two of them. Nothing significant, just a thread, but it was still a tie. It was there.  
  
Washu gazed tiredly, no, warily up at her, as if analyzing Mihoshi, a small amount of confusion in her freshly awakened eyes still blurry with sleep, a blessed repose.  
  
Mihoshi stifled the urge to glare her down, wanting to hold her ground. Instead, she relaxed, letting thoughts of what she looked forward to in life float to the surface. She smiled back, tilting her head lightly, adopting her 'bubbly' persona once more.  
  
I just woke up and now I have to go back to sleep again, a part of her reflected.  
  
"Good morning Washu-chan," Mihoshi chirped softly, using the name the mad scientist insisted they call her by.  
  
Washu smiled back. Damn, I never thought waking up in the morning would feel this good ever again, she exulted. She turned her head towards her 'pillow,' and gazed down at Tenchi. Reluctantly, she began to slide away, but ended up next to him still, sitting with her legs tucked underneath her, calves sideways; she was reclining against the boy, a crooked elbow holding her up.  
  
She looked back up at Mihoshi, and gave her a crooked grin. Got to him first, did you? I wanted to give him his first kiss of the day, she silently remarked. Her inquisitive nature told her that something was off, but she put it aside. It was too good a day to ruin with thinking about something that didn't matter. She was a woman again. an adult female; she loved it.  
  
Suddenly, the snoring which served as ambience stopped.  
  
Both women turned to see another stir. Sasami slowly leaned on Tenchi as she shifted to sit on the deck. She blinked tiredly, wiping off her eyes with small balled fists. "Morning," she yawned.  
  
"Morning Sasami," Washu yawned back.  
  
"Good morning Sasami-chan," Mihoshi said brightly, "it's a wonderful morning, isn't it?"  
  
The other two nodded, one with an eager smile, the other with a lecherous smirk. That went without saying.  
  
Mihoshi leaned forwards, hands on her sides, elbows out. "Everyone had a good night's sleep?" she inquired.  
  
Washu yawned. "I've had worse." her jovial tone hid nothing.  
  
Sasami's bright expression faltered slightly. "The second one yeah. but before that."  
  
Mihoshi winced, feeling discomfort replace the joyful aura she felt Sasami radiate. "What happened?"  
  
"Another nightmare." Washu said softly, not wanting to upset Sasami more.  
  
Sasami nodded, looking down at Tenchi's face. Washu leaned over Tenchi and place a reassuring hand on Sasami's arm, rubbing her lightly. The calm, benign expression she gave her radiated 'its okay, I'm here, you're safe.'  
  
Mihoshi blinked, watching Washu being tender towards the girl. Wow. Mihoshi thought, her heart went out to Sasami's. She was a bit surprised when the two didn't hug over the boy. Well, was still a sight to see.  
  
The two women didn't have to exchange words, Washu's body language explained it all. The issue would be looked into later.  
  
Sasami shook Tenchi. "Wake up Tenchi-ni-chan," she chided his sleeping form. Tenchi groaned, and Sasami echoed him. "Come on," she tugged at his sleep-wrinkled shirt.  
  
"Let me, Sasami," Washu interjected, and instantly Mihoshi felt sorry for the boy. She still did not trust the mad scientist, as harmless as she looked, or had looked. Clad in her satin jimmies, Washu slid along Tenchi's body. With her slender fingers, Washu's right hand pinched Tenchi's nose shut, and her left hand played with his windpipe, moving down his chest, dancing over his solar plexus. "Arise, noble knight," she spoke, her tone accentuating her already silky and sultry tone, making Ryoko sound like an adolescent schoolgirl.  
  
Tenchi tried to breath, his attempts at intaking air growing more taxed, more desperate, more rapid. His eyes fluttered open, and he ended up staring into two brilliant emerald eyes glancing down on him. Two precious stones on a sculpted face framed by rose locks. The fact that the sunlight framed her apparition with a halo didn't ruin the vision in any way.  
  
"Mihoshi?" was the first words out of his mouth, disbelieving and confused.  
  
Washu stifled a gasp, and both her and Sasami were taken aback. Washu 'Super-Sized!' was beginning to redden, her jaw slack, letting out a choked squeak, replacing the glib remark poised on the tip of her tongue.  
  
"Hey Tenchi!" Mihoshi sang from where she stood. She was laughing inside. Laughing in joy, not pleasure from Washu's setback. Not that it detracted from it either.  
  
Washu and Sasami turned towards her.  
  
Tenchi was still confused, but the thing that sent him back now beckoned him forwards. From where he lay, he craned his neck to look at Mihoshi. "Last night? What do you-"  
  
"It was marvelous." Mihoshi cooed.  
  
Washu and Sasami looked dumbstruck.  
  
"It felt so good." she continued, adding a 'mm' as she finished.  
  
Washu started to twitch while Sasami's eyes continued to expand, giving her a very bugged-out expression, her already oversized cherry- blossom framed pupils dilating.  
  
"To be tucked in like that." Mihoshi finished, giggling behind her hands, masking her face as she looked away, her body swaying side to side.  
  
Washu relaxed, cursing herself, and Mihoshi of course. You ruined my set-up! My moment. it was so perfect, so of course you had to come along.  
  
Grown-ups, Sasami thought, exasperated.  
  
Tenchi continued to look up at Mihoshi, confused. What? Something's off. He looked again at her. Well, its morning, I guess its only natural that she can be so happy this early.  
  
The sound of someone - someone very feminine - clearing their throat diverted his train of thought, switching it to another track. Washu was about to blink at Tenchi, opting to try and seduce him right there, when he spoke, albeit a still groggy.  
  
"Slept fine, Washu-chan, how bout you?" he asked her, blinking the crust out of his eyes, and sitting up on the floor. Sasami embraced him energetically, a full-blown glomp, but one that didn't squeeze the air from his lungs. Looking down at what surprised him, Tenchi chuckled. A moment of hesitation caused by inexperience passed, and he embraced her back. "Morning' Sasami-chan."  
  
It was Washu whose heart caught in her throat, not Tenchi. The way he looked there, freshly awoken, very serene. no, relaxed, well rested, was a sight to see; the magnificence of normality. His warm mahogany eyes entranced her, wonder reflected in her shimmering beryl eyes. Sometimes, something plain could be lovely, beautiful, and priceless. The way that he embraced Sasami, who had now come to lean up against him brought back memories. It brought back envy for something she swore she would never want again: a family. Her mouth opened once or twice, and the momentary look of worry that came to Tenchi's face almost caused her to go off on a hormone rush. "Lovely." she purred sincerely.  
  
Tenchi nodded, pleased. He looked around him, seeing Sasami, Mihoshi, and Washu. the lake and mountains behind them. Picturesque, he thought. All is right with the world, he couldn't help but think.  
  
He continued to blink, a crystal of encrusted tears refusing to be remove, clinging defiantly to his eyelash. "Let me get that for you," Washu whispered, her right hand touching his face.  
  
She half expected him to flinch, to move back, but no, he sat still, continuing to look at her, holding her gaze as her fingers caressing his face, seeming to map it with a degree of precision topographers would admire. His gaze didn't recoil. it grew warmer as her gently removed the crystallized tear that formed in his sleep, and she almost sighed when she retracted her arm.  
  
"Thanks." Tenchi stated, not bewitched, but pleased all the more. He was surprised when Washu blushed at his appreciation and seemed to grow bashful. The boy felt as comfortably warm as he ever had in his lifetime, rivaling the bliss of the womb.  
  
He looked down at Sasami, who had contented to looking at the lake, rocking her head slowly right and left, left and right. "How was your-" he began to ask softly, but a slight shake of the head from Washu stopped him mid-sentence. It could've been a mistake, an assumption, but the small look of concern that flashed across her mature visage proved it was no mistake.  
  
Tenchi nodded, a bit confused, and Mihoshi waved to him, mouthing out 'nightmare' before turning back to stare off to the side, to where Yukinojo was, he remembered.  
  
Tenchi sniffed the air. Yeah, I wonder just how bad it was last night for you, he silently remarked, looking down at Sasami, shifting his embrace from her, putting an arm around her shoulder. "How was what?" Sasami asked him.  
  
"Your 'pleasant dream' after I tucked you in, remember?" Tenchi goaded.  
  
"I don't remember." Sasami tried to remember her second set of dreams. "But I was happy," she concluded.  
  
"That's good, I just slept," Tenchi told her.  
  
Washu looked back into his eyes, seeking to stare into his kokoro as she mouthed out slowly and exaggeratedly 'did she tell you anything?'  
  
Tenchi nodded, looking grim for a moment. 'It was bad,' he mouthed back.  
  
Washu just blinked, something about Tenchi's reply disturbing her.  
  
Tenchi looked at the scenery around him. Beautiful. If only it could be like this every day, he thought. It shouldn't go to waste. So perfect. wait, something's missing. Someone. Some-two? Oh, no wonder. He addressed everyone. "Hey, why don't we go for a walk?" He followed it up a moment later. "Where's Aeka and Ryoko"  
  
"Guess they woke up already," Washu replied sotto voce, trying to not look guilty. "Too bad, they're going to miss out."  
  
"Walk?" Sasami piped up, intrigued. "Where?" She felt Tenchi's shrug.  
  
"Around here," he replied. "Beautiful day out."  
  
"All right!" Mihoshi exulted. She bent down to look at Sasami. "Come on, let's get you ready!" She reached down and picked up Sasami's hand, and together the two went off inside the house.  
  
"But I don't need to-" Sasami pleaded, being dragged off.  
  
Mihoshi gave Tenchi a look, her frizzy hair catching the sun. He nodded at her. "Thanks," he said softly. She shook her head, shrugging nonchalantly, before disappearing back into the living room.  
  
"Wait, tell Aeka and Ryo-" he called after, to be stopped by Washu.  
  
"If they miss out, its their own fault," Washu remarked, holding onto his arm. "Remind me to thank Mihoshi later," she said to herself, noticing that the two of them were now alone, with Sasami somewhere else. She then changed the subject. "About Sasami's nightmare, what was it abo-"  
  
"I died," Tenchi replied matter-of-factly.  
  
It took Washu back by surprise. The casual, indifferent way Tenchi said it left her ill at ease. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Apparently the woman Sasami kept dreaming about killed me."  
  
Washu was about to ask for more details.  
  
"That's as far as I got, Washu," Tenchi shrugged. "I didn't want to push her, I wanted her to calm down and feel fine," he finished sincerely.  
  
"You're right," Washu acquiesced. Damn you! Here I am panicking and you have to go off. and act so. loveable! Don't you care about yourself Tenchi? Not just about. us, Washu realized, opening a new chapter in her archives on the boy.  
  
"This is just wrong," Tenchi said. "Why her?"  
  
"Because she's special," Washu replied sadly. "I'm guessing it has something to do with her tie to Tsunami."  
  
"That doesn't make it right," he told her, shaking his head slowly. "I can sympathize."  
  
"Excuse me, my Little Guinea Pig, what do you mean?" Washu asked, feeling slightly irritated at Tenchi's nebulous remark.  
  
Tenchi took Washu's hand and touched her fingertips to his forehead, they tingled as his emblem activated and his facial markings momentarily appeared.  
  
"Oh." Washu kept her fingers against his forehead as he moved his hand away. "So, you died?" she brought up. It sounded so dumb she knew, but she didn't know else to phrase such an awful thing. Sometimes, the simplest statement was the best understood.  
  
Tenchi sighed. "I'm trying not to think too much of it," he admitted, a helpless look on his face.  
  
Washu snorted at his seeming cavalier attitude. "Tenchi, you of all people should know just how accurate her oracles are!" Panic spiked into her, as snippets of only dream she could recall began to repeat in her mind.  
  
Tenchi nodded softly, and he embraced her lightly, knowing that he must have appeared callous to her. "It's a vision of what may come, not what will come, Washu-chan," he told her gently, burying his face in her salmon locks.  
  
Awkwardly she held him back, her grasp tender, soft, as if he too, would disappear, just as he did in her dream. "I know Tenchi." Washu replied shakily. "I'm still scared though," she confessed to him.  
  
Tenchi was surprised to feel warmed by her admission. Why though? he asked himself. "You'll be there to help me though, won't you?" I don't think I'll ever get used to this, he thought as he continued to embrace Washu. When they're asleep, its one thing. but I think I can live with it, he thought wryly.  
  
"Damned right," Washu declared, nuzzling him softly.  
  
The sound of voices in the living room caught their attention. Regretfully, Washu pulled away from him and leaned up against a post, rubbing her forearms within their satin-clad sleeves. "Tenchi?"  
  
"Yes, Washu-chan," he replied, a bit confused, and Washu gloried in how he said her name, even if that was what she insisted on being called by.  
  
"About this." she whispered, "you won't tell, will you?"  
  
Tenchi gave her a reassuring smile. "No, I wont," he whispered, walking past her on the deck, staring out into the lake.  
  
Washu struggled not to jump him then and there.  
  
***  
  
Sasami eagerly tore up the stairs, Mihoshi now the one in tow. The detective was struggling to keep up with the dashing princess, her turquoise hair a zephyr's tail. "Come on, hurry!" Sasami urged.  
  
"Whoa!" Mihoshi yelped, amazed that she had to pick up her stride to keep from tripping. "Slow down!"  
  
Sasami just laughed, sliding into the Royal Suite, causing their grips to break, and Mihoshi ended up slamming against the end of the hallway into the bathroom door as she slid past. "I wouldn't have to if I didn't have to get dressed."  
  
Mihoshi picked herself off the floor, dazed. She chuckled lightly. "Okay, okay," she replied, holding her hands up in an appeasing manner as she moved inside the room. "Just what happened last night?" she blurted out, not being able to contain the question.  
  
Sasami slowed down as she changed into an outfit that matched Mihoshi's, a teal shirt with beige coveralls. "I had a nightmare." she said meekly.  
  
Mihoshi winced. Oh, smooth. That was heartless, she berated herself. Okay, steer away from the subject.  
  
"But, then, I went to Tenchi's room-" Sasami continued.  
  
"Then he took you to the deck?" Mihoshi finished, a small smile returning to her face.  
  
Sasami shrugged, an amused expression in her features, her triangular formations of freckles a pleasant appearance on her cheeks. "Mm, hmm," she nodded. "He surprised me."  
  
"At least you were awake," Mihoshi quipped, giggling.  
  
"Eh?" Sasami was thrown off.  
  
Mihoshi paused. "I, uh, I landed last night," she told Sasami, trying to find the right words.  
  
"Oh." Sasami nodded, understanding. She must have crashed again. She tossed her carrot-decorated pajamas into a hamper, a log-like cylinder in a cluster of similar-looking containers; their portable wardrobe and storage space.  
  
Mihoshi winced. Its okay, she didn't mean anything by it. "Tenchi must have taken me from Yukinojo and tucked me in with the everyone else. Ready?" Mihoshi turned to leave the room.  
  
"Everyone?" Sasami said. "I forgot, it was just the two of us when he put me to sleep last night."  
  
"Really," Mihoshi asked. So it wasn't arranged or anything.  
  
"No, it looked like Tenchi-ni-chan just thought of it on the spot and took us down there." Sasami replied as they walked down the stairs. "I wonder how everyone else got there," Sasami wondered, getting to the question before Mihoshi could.  
  
"Everyone's got their story." Mihoshi shrugged, a serene smile on her face. "Good thing he was looking out for us." She laughed softly. "A true prince isn't he, one in shining armor."  
  
Sasami eagerly voiced her agreement. "Tenchi's always looking out for us."  
  
Mihoshi felt warm at how the girl seemed happy now. Tough little kid aren't you? She admired how Sasami lived with her problems. I envy you. She saw something else though, as the girl said his name. It clicked. That look, that expression, the way her voice, if juvenile, sang out his name. "You like him. don't you, Sasami?" Her eyes bulged as she said it without thinking.  
  
It was Sasami who shrank back. She looked nervous. "Yeah, I like him." She withered under Mihoshi's gaze, welcoming, but Sasami didn't feel at ease. "I do like Tenchi. I-"  
  
"It's okay," Mihoshi told her. She kneeled down and held the girl by the shoulders. She looked around conspiratorially, then whispered to Sasami. "I like him too," she whispered, a light tone in her voice, but as her sapphire eyes locked into Sasami's garnet pair, neither of them could deny the truth in their words.  
  
"It's silly," Sasami told her.  
  
"No." Mihoshi shook her head. "It isn't. Its part of life."  
  
"I don't stand a chance." Sasami whispered, looking down, and Mihoshi's heart went out to her.  
  
"How would you know what Tenchi wants?" Mihoshi asked her sincerely. Sasami looked up surprised at her. "None of really do against ourselves. Plus," Mihoshi whispered into her ear, "Tenchi loves us all, don't you think? We're his family."  
  
It was as much an epiphany for the speaker as it was for the listener.  
  
"Yeah, we are," Sasami agreed, looking up at Mihoshi. "Mihoshi-ne- chan!"  
  
Mihoshi wiped away an honest tear from her eye, blinking away the rest as she calmed herself down. "Its so beautiful," she wept.  
  
Sasami pointed at the deck's sliding door. "Wanna go for a walk now?"  
  
Sasami raced away from her, and she opened the door, Mihoshi wondered at how something so energetic be so graceful. A thought popped into her mind. I wonder what she'll look like when she's older, Mihoshi asked herself. Tsunami. she thought. She felt some of her hopes go down. Don't think like that, its Sasami, not some Goddess. She'll grow up, that's how she'll change, not just turning into someone else entirely.  
  
"Mihoshi!" Sasami called after her from the outside  
  
Mihoshi blinked. "Coming!" She ran onto the decking, being greeted again by the lake and mountains behind it. She turned to see Tenchi and the others getting ready.  
  
"Hey, how come you didn't change Washu-chan?" Sasami asked the still pajama-clad woman.  
  
"Oh," Washu began glibly, "Tenchi and I had to talk. about mature things," she finished, flashing a bemused smile at Mihoshi and Sasami. Oh, just look at them! her mind exulted, trying not to break out in laughter. To add to the effect, Washu clung to Tenchi's arm.  
  
"Washu." Tenchi began to chide her softly.  
  
"Play along." she whispered to him, somehow conveying with a sidelong glance the message of 'do you want Sasami to know that we were talking about her behind her back?' to Tenchi.  
  
"Everyone ready?" Tenchi asked as the three females put on a pair of slippers, and stepped down into the earthen path.  
  
Mihoshi and Sasami glanced at each. Then they smiled. Tenchi moved back a step as Mihoshi and Sasami ran up to him, laughing as they each took a hold of his arms, Mihoshi shoving a dumbstruck Washu aside, who mock- glared at a Sasami who stuck her tongue out at her.  
  
Tenchi just chuckled. I can't believe that I'm loving all this. "Looking at you now, I can't tell that you've all had a hard night."  
  
"Except for Aeka," Washu quipped. Tenchi tried not to look embarrassed, while Sasami tried not to sport a sweat-drop.  
  
"Eh?" Mihoshi said, a confused look plastered on her face.  
  
"Right," Tenchi sighed, he glanced at Washu, who was looking a bit left out. He gestured with the tilt of his head, and she happily came and embraced him from behind. Back to square one, he told himself.  
  
"Know what, Tenchi?" Washu proposed. "Forget walking, I'd be happy to stay just like this."  
  
Tenchi kept back a groan, but he was amused. "But it's such a beautiful morning out," he protested.  
  
"Yeah," Mihoshi and Sasami echoed, tugging at Tenchi's arms.  
  
"Your point?" Washu retorted, pressing herself up against his back.  
  
Tenchi chuckled. How come I have a feeling that every time I jump out of one pot, I land in another? He looked down at Sasami and Mihoshi. He winked at both of them, lightly moving his arms. They released him, and as they did so, his hands immediately moved back to Washu's waist. "Tickle attack!" he declared, taking the smug and stubborn mad scientist off-guard.  
  
"Me too!" Sasami declared, and she jumped in, her small fingers digging into Washu's sides, roaming her waist mercilessly.  
  
Even Mihoshi joined in, and as a group, they all fell back onto the deck, where they rolled around, a flurry of tickling hands and flailing legs. It was a wonder that no one's hair got pulled, or anyone scratched. Then again, there was no malice, only jubilant play.  
  
Tenchi managed to crawl out of the hairball. Soon enough, they all lay back, tired, still continuing to laugh. "I can't believe Aeka and Ryoko are missing this."  
  
"Oh well," Washu replied.  
  
"What are those two doing anyway?" Tenchi asked.  
  
"Something dumb," Sasami answered.  
  
Everyone shared a common sigh. Yeah, they probably are, they all thought.  
  
*** 


	7. 1x1x05 Epiphany

'Epiphany' v.1.2 ID # 1-1-05 (Arc 1, Chapter 1, Scene 5) (Finished 1:07 PM PT 04-22-2003)  
  
We were off. The four of us walked along the earthen road, out from the house, no real destination in mind. Mihoshi lead the way, happily looking out at the scenery, and I wondered why she didn't simply give in to some urge of hers and frolic amongst the flowers and grass. Mihoshi playing in a sea of daisies, wouldn't that be something to see? Yeah. azure eyes, and sun-kissed hair.  
  
"Like a child." Washu muttered, her right hand in my left, as we walked side by side, Sasami holding onto my right. She has a point. sort of. "It doesn't look like she has any clue at all," Washu continued, looking sidelong at me, her viridian eyes giving teasing glimpses into her behind a curtain of rose.  
  
Sasami and I just enjoyed the ambiance. The sky was the palest blue I have ever seen, and the only bank of clouds I saw partially obscured the sun. Not that that was a bad thing. Looking at Mihoshi walking ahead, I can't help but think. This is so her. But no. there has to be something else to that. girl? Woman? I don't even know her age. not that I'm stupid enough to ask.  
  
"What?" I asked Washu, picking up my left hand, still clasped to her right. "Its beautiful out."  
  
"Not that," Washu replied softly, "and you don't have to say it again and again either. Though it is true," she conceded.  
  
"Hey!" Mihoshi called back, "There's Yukinojo." She went off the path and towards where Yukinojo had stopped, a spaceship turned into a plow.  
  
We followed her, and we stopped just several meters before it. Washu simply clucked condescendingly as we approached. Sasami wondered at the scars gouged into the soil that Yukinojo carved.  
  
Mihoshi came to a dead stop, seemingly in shock. "Wow," she said softly. "That was bad."  
  
"Yeah," I told her. "I was worried when I saw you come in."  
  
Mihoshi looked sad. Very, very sad. The way she seemed to droop, her arms slack at her sides, and her eyes clouded with. with what?  
  
"How'd you manage to pull out?" I asked her next, "that was great." I meant it. It was something to see.  
  
She looked at me and said. "I don't remember, training took over I think."  
  
"That's ironic." Washu remarked with her caustic wit. She looked over the scene with an appraising eye and said, "Mihoshi," she sighed, "you are a piece of work," she concluded, shaking her head in a resigned fashion.  
  
"I can't believe its not broken," Sasami added softly, releasing my hand and walking up towards the craft. Curiously, and as if she was exploring some ancient ruins, Sasami clambered up a platinum-white wing and started walking its span. She gave it a couple of test jumps, to our amusement, but the ship did not shift. Not enough mass, I think.  
  
I gave Mihoshi a reassuring look, something to let her know that I didn't think badly of it. "Accidents happen," I told her. I shook Washu's hand softly to forestall a smart crack. I felt her sigh knowingly beside me.  
  
"Yeah, Yukinojo's been with me for a long time," Mihoshi stated, patting the hull of her ship as if it was a pet. Well, I can sympathize. "It'll take more than just a crash landing to put him out of action."  
  
Him? The ship is a 'him?' Well, Mihoshi is female, so I guess its only natural.  
  
Washu and I walked up to Yukinojo. "It looks like the GP has improved its patrol ship designs since the last time I bothered to look at the readouts," Washu went on, and I felt myself feeling dumb. Great, I'm out of my league here. Then again, I always was, they just don't point it out.  
  
"Oh," Mihoshi said, "when was that?"  
  
Washu tilted her head, failing miserably on trying to put it on my shoulder. Well, yeah, she's taller than me by how much?  
  
"I think a millennia, something like that," Washu stated casually, causing me to look a bit odd. "Wonder just how much they've gotten better," Washu said analytically.  
  
A thousand years or something? I don't even think any of our swords are that old!  
  
"The patrol ships," Mihoshi said thoughtfully, a professional, yet still bright expression coming to her face. "They've gotten better."  
  
Washu continued to glance at the ship, and I felt a bit odd at her examining another 'male' with such intensity. "There are improvements, but they just don't fit," Washu concluded. She glanced at the hull, seeming to find interest in the sleek, aerodyne surfaces. "It's too small. A bit overgunned, and not enough room for cargo. So, does the GP shoot first and ask questions later these days?"  
  
Overgunned? It has guns? I can't see any barrels or gunports. all I know is it looks cool. I can see the wings, the engines, but that's it.  
  
Mihoshi looked a bit confused. "That's because Yukinojo is an assault ship," Mihoshi replied bubbly, causing Washu to falter against me. "He hunts and he kills," she said coolly, in that same happy tone, and the way she phrased it almost made my skin crawl. Mihoshi? "Yukinojo wasn't designed for long cruises or customs duty."  
  
"So how come you use it," Sasami called down from above, sitting on the fore of Yukinojo's port wing, or fin, its something.  
  
Mihoshi continued to stare at Yukinojo running her the back of her right hand against its dull surface. "I transferred in from the Assault division."  
  
"Assault Division?" I asked her, confused. "Isn't the GP-"  
  
"A bunch of bullies," Washu said crossly, earning her a peeved look from Mihoshi, not looking so much indignant as comical.  
  
"I take it you've had trouble with the law out there," I pointed up, "before?" I ribbed her. The 'who me' look I got in return made me feel odd, sort of a faux pas.  
  
Mihoshi coughed to get our attention. "The Assault Division is the 'heavy,' she said, emphasizing the word, "unit. We," she stuttered, "they are called in to perform assignments more in line with a military force as opposed to law enforcement. Sometimes planetary authorities," Mihoshi continued going into her own lecture, "need to augment their military operations against pirates and rebels, so we would be folded in with their units or make our own strikes."  
  
I was intrigued. Intrigued and disturbed actually. While I found this interesting, coming from Mihoshi, I also found it distressing, as if there was another side of her that I was just beginning to see. I suppose our previous conversations never really had a chance to take this path of development before.  
  
"So you were in it?" Sasami asked again, running along the edge precariously, and I was worried she'd slip and fall. Clad in her matching outfit with Mihoshi's, she looked so cute. She jumped off, and joined our group again. The confused look on her face must have mirrored mine.  
  
"I was," Mihoshi replied, nodding lightly, as if she was somewhere else. "I transferred about a year ago."  
  
"Oh, better pay?" I inquired. Okay, I'm already lost, but I have to go deeper in. But. Mihoshi's really got me worried though.  
  
She looked hesitant, almost uncomfortable. I was surprised she didn't start to fidget. She gave me the look. The bubbly, all is well look. "Something like that," she replied.  
  
"Whatever," Washu muttered, giving me a look as well. Yeah, so she thought something else was wrong too. To confirm it, she squeezed my hand lightly, but I think Mihoshi caught it. "I take it you can take Yukinojo out of this," she said.  
  
Mihoshi nodded confidently. "Yeah, its not like I have to swim down to my ship now. If there's anything broken," she went on, "he'll fix it."  
  
"Have to give it credit," Washu remarked. "It survived being piloted by you," she pointed out. Before I could sigh in exasperation, Washu surprised us all by giving a small, but sincere smile. "You know, I think even the GP has autopilots on their ships." Her voice was lecturing, but it held no edge, a slightly amused tone leaving a beautiful 'aftertaste,' exotic, but not unpleasant.  
  
Mihoshi nodded, looking a bit sheepish, like I did. Oh look, her hand's behind her head too. "Yeah, but I don't trust it."  
  
"Look Mihoshi," Washu began, and I was surprised to notice that she was trying not be sarcastic, wow. Don't think like that, that's being judgmental and harsh. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job," she paused, trying to find the proper words, "but it might," Washu said softly, "be better if you followed procedures for landing on a low-tech planet."  
  
Low-tech? Wow, Washu is learning tact, I thought, amused. I'm amazed she didn't use backwards.  
  
Mihoshi nodded, still with that smile on her face. "I guess. all right, I will," she agreed. Did I just see progress here? Honestly. no hostilities exchanged, well, no hostilities exchanged by Washu.  
  
"Good," I joked. "I was afraid that sooner or later you might crash Yukinojo into our house one of these days." Not that it ever crossed my mind... even with all those close calls.  
  
"Tenchi," Washu whispered to me, softly, but still carrying a bit of scolding in it. Oh shit. I am such an ass.  
  
Mihoshi's face fell, and although her lapse lasted only for a blink of an eye. I could still see the hurt that flashed through her sapphire eyes. "Yeah," she sighed, "right." Suddenly, as soon as it had begun, she was chipper again, seemingly brighter too. That shouldn't happen. I don't know just how much I hurt her, but, it still had to be painful.  
  
I felt myself rock into Washu as something hit me from the side, restrained, but it still sent me into her. I looked and saw Sasami, glaring at me, an impish look on her face, as if she was scolding me, but was doing it half-hearted.  
  
"A change of topic would be nice about now," Washu told me sotto voce.  
  
It was Sasami's turn to speak. She gave us a curious look, letting out a small sigh. "About my dream. right?"  
  
Washu and I shared a look, and Mihoshi approached our trio. "Washu had one too, last night," I told Sasami. If anything, she looked even more worried, fear again returning to her somber scarlet eyes. Okay, why do I keep saying the wrong things? The light around us dimmed, I turned my head slightly, looking up at our source of illumination. One of the cloud banks had enshrouded the sun. I hate omens. I really, really do.  
  
Mihoshi reclined on the grass, propping herself up on an elbow. I still felt bad at what I said to her, unintentional or not, but she didn't seem to show any negative emotions, just a bit or curiosity, mixed in with a slight sense of worry that I could feel from her. Besides that, nothing. Looking up at us, she patted the ground with her free right hand.  
  
Well, the morning dew had already gone.  
  
I sat cross-leggedly on the ground, while Washu tucked her legs in beneath her, and I briefly wondered at how her shimmering jade pajamas blended in. with her background the verdant mountain, looking with concern at Sasami, who sat down on my other side, leaning up against me. Washu was laid back, her arms behind her, as she used them as supports. It almost as if she grew out of the ground. A Dryad emerging from the Earth. a Goddess come down from Heaven.  
  
A small part of me felt resentful that Aeka wasn't here for her sister. Should I feel that? Its not like Aeka knew or anything, plus. Sasami might as well be family to me now. A sister I've never had.  
  
"What was it like," Mihoshi began, softly, talking to Sasami not like one would to a child, but still comforting. Did that make them peers?  
  
"It was so strange," Sasami began softly, and I clumsily put an arm around her, and she pressed in against my left side. She didn't start sniffling or anything, but I could tell some of the fear was coming back. I felt so helpless. I didn't know how, but I tried to send over some reassurance to her, and she gave me a small smile, not one to show that she was trying to be brave, but one of thanks.  
  
Smoothly, Washu went around us, and together, we flanked Sasami. She was there, looking helpless, unsure of what to do to help the little girl. I could tell she felt disappointed at herself, lost. So was I. Mihoshi went around us, behind Sasami, and clumsily, then confidently, she began to remove Sasami's coiffure, reducing it to its 'natural' state, no more of the cute side-tails that were her trademark. Sticking the hair-ties in her mouth, almost comically, Mihoshi pulled the mass up to her face, examining it, a dressmaker evaluating a lustrous bolt of Chinese silk, turquoise strands seemingly ethereal.  
  
Mihoshi and Washu stared at me, and there was no doubt in the looks they gave me that we must tread carefully. We weren't interrogating Sasami, we were supposed to help her. Can't lose sight of that. They gave me another look, and Mihoshi spoke, to Washu. "What do you think," she mumbled through the hairclips, a bit garbled.  
  
Washu shrugged and said, "Braid and error," she remarked, shrugging slightly, and she too, joined Mihoshi's hands as they went to work, styling Sasami's hair. The mad scientist and detective turned beauticians gave me a sly grin over Sasami's head.  
  
Well, I am in the center of it all, so I should be the one to ask. But still! I feel so left out. Times like this, I wish I was a girl. Or at least, I knew how to style girls' hair.  
  
Now, how do I go about asking her. I turned to look at Sasami, seemed to be soothed by Mihoshi and Washu's ministrations. Well, at least it helps.  
  
"Do," I began slowly, knowing that it would hurt her to ask her to recall what she saw. "Is there anything you can remember?" Mihoshi gave me a sympathetic look, while Washu continued to concentrate on braiding Sasami's hair, her deft fingers seeming to weave on a turquoise loom. She looked at me sidelong, and she looked a bit disturbed.  
  
Sasami took a small breath, still calm, but she fidgeted timidly with my the edge of my shirt. "It was not now." Her voice was still a bit down, but I couldn't detect any trembling in it.  
  
Washu's eyes picked up, rose-colored eyebrows arching in a piqued expression of shallow understanding, and the need to remedy that condition.  
  
All right, so it takes place in the future. what? "Do you know when," I continued, continuing to look down upon her, and I refused to let any pity show through. Its wrong, Sasami needs our support, our compassion, not our condolences.  
  
Sasami continued to stare forward, as if looking past something else. "It was here," she paused, "Japan," she clarified. I could see Washu and Mihoshi taking in the information as they plaited and continued to braid Sasami's hair. Mihoshi's sapphire eyes were observant, while Washu's emerald pair was analytical. "Their clothes. they were old."  
  
"Do you mean old as in worn out, or old as in it doesn't belong in this time." Washu finally joined us in our uncomfortable conversation.  
  
"You mean the past?" Mihoshi followed up.  
  
Sasami nodded slowly. "Yeah. it was in some old house, a big house, everyone wore kimono and hakama," she elaborated, and I felt bad at asking her to remember things she must have wanted to forget. "I saw Yosho-ni- chan," she exhaled, and I held her hand, enfolding it within my own, not squeezing, but still a solid grasp.  
  
"Him? What happened with him?" I asked her gently, a bit unsettled by the mention of my ancestor.  
  
"Nothing," she replied, a bit distant. "He was dead." The way she said it, as it simply was, as if she was describing some bland background item, disturbed me.  
  
"And Tenchi?" Washu finally brought up. She looked concerned, not simply intrigued or cynically inquisitive as she usually did. She displayed none of her customary patronizing 'sensei' temperament nor the clinical detachment she usually gave us. "How is he connected with this?" She inquired, curiosity lacing her dusky voice, but it had a restrained edge to it. Washu was keeping herself from asking too much of the girl.  
  
I too, was curious. Yosho was here for a long time. He'd my grandfather, after all. What she said could have been any time in several centuries, but I wasn't alive in any of them. and he only wears his Shinto garments, always had for as long as I could remember. I've come to associate gray, white, and blue with the man. That, and those awkward eyes. That floral tint that I always thought was some condition that he had. Well, that was when I thought he was still Japanese. well, mostly Terran at least. How do I fit in to all this? I looked at Sasami carefully, and she smiled shakily at me, as if she was shivering.  
  
"He was fighting," she continued, losing her interest in the hem of my shirt. Her hands stopped their fidgeting, and her slim fingers went still. "Outside, in a large box of sand."  
  
Washu looked at me briefly. "She meant a sand garden," I told her. The woman nodded lightly, finishing her work on Sasami's hair, leaving the rearranged mass for Mihoshi to tie off.  
  
"There," Mihoshi said lightly, removing the hair bands from where it dangled from her lips slipping it into one of her large pockets. "And then," she continued, urging Sasami on. Mihoshi smiled, a light of realization reaching her eyes, an 'aha!' expression on her face, seeming to make her lightly bronzed skin shine against its light crown. "Here, take this Sasami," she remarked, reaching into another one of the pockets. This time, she extracted a ribbon, a crimson lock. It had some thickness to it, but still was slender, elegant, but not billowy. With one hand, she held the back of Sasami's hair in a bound choke, and skillfully, she weaved in the crimson ribbon.  
  
Sasami looked a bit taken off guard. I expected a bow, and it did resembled on, but there was no telltale loops. There were trails. sort of. The ribbon seemed to intertwine with the strands, creating a helix pattern that ended, leaving no stray ends. well except for some playful ends.  
  
"Oh." Sasami said, a bit thrown off. So was I. I expected Washu to be also, but she only smiled softly.  
  
"A bit to familiar." Washu drawled, "but nice." She had an odd look, one that was veiled with suspicion. Something that she should not feel, especially towards Sasami. Then again, Sasami looked another bit more like Tsunami now.  
  
Sasami then continued. "You were fighting with a man," she continued. "He was dressed the same way you were."  
  
"Same colors?" I asked.  
  
She nodded lightly. "I couldn't see." she hesitated, a bit uncomfortable. I tried to give her a reassuring look. I didn't want to push the girl more than I already was. "It was really dark, it was night there," she continued. "There was also a woman." she drawled.  
  
"The same lady?" Mihoshi proposed. Sasami nodded, a glazed look beginning to appear in her eyes. The three of us; Washu, Mihoshi, and I, knew that we were digging in too far, that we might begin to hurt Sasami is we continued.  
  
"Yes. she looked like her." Sasami's voice was getting clearer now, as she began to see more, but there was no denying the reluctance that she radiated, that Mihoshi seemed to reflect as well. Washu had simply gone numb, staring blankly. It was as if I was the only one still paying rapt attention. Well, attention balanced with care. "You killed him," Sasami said matter-of-factly. Oh.  
  
"She killed me." I finished for her softly, moving my hand to her shoulder, wishing I could send more reassurance through that simple physical connection. I'm not very good at displaying my emotions. but I do care. Its just, how much can I afford to show them?  
  
This is funny. Sasami predicts my death. in another time, and I'm thinking about hiding my own feelings, my own thoughts. My priorities arrange themselves, apparently.  
  
Fear finally crept into her voice, bringing Mihoshi and Washu back to full awareness. "You didn't fight back," she told me, her voice gaining strength. I stared into her magenta eyes, and I was glad that I didn't see terror, nor desperation within such innocent mirrors of the soul. Instead, I saw dim confusion, and then a slight luster of illumination, followed by a small streak of accusation. "You let her kill you," Sasami voiced, as if questioning me, as to why, would the Tenchi in her dream, would not do anything.  
  
"She stabbed him in the back?" Washu inquired, but Mihoshi shook her head next to the mad scientist.  
  
"No, she was also chasing Tenchi," Mihoshi surmised, her features turning sharp, seeming more elfin, not to be confused with the harshness of aven.  
  
Sasami's nod confirmed her statement. "You let her approach, Tenchi," Sasami said, questioning me instead, confusion and incomprehension pitching her voice. "She walked right up to you." Sasami looked even more confused. "Then you let her cut you down." She finished, and her statement drew equal confusion to us all.  
  
"Why?" I asked. I wondered what. would make me do something like that.  
  
"Its not even academic," Washu remarked. "She had influence over you," she said, as if reciting a fact, serving a lecture to us, to me. "This person," she pointed a finger at me, a slender one, more feminine than how it was when she looked to be an adolescent. Or a salty old midget, she seemed at times. "You knew her Tenchi."  
  
Sasami looked at her, then nodded. "Yes, it seemed like you two were close," she murmured softly.  
  
Mihoshi spoke up, "It makes sense." Ouch. Three for three, they thought.  
  
"So its my fault?" I couldn't help but let out in a confused tone. Not an outraged one, or in a distraught way, but simply a soft, perplexed manner, as if talking to myself.  
  
Sasami's turned to look off somewhere else, and I saw the profile of her face. I saw someone that seemed so young, looking so regal, all of it, without any effort at all. Simply being, that's all she did. I couldn't help but think of Sasami. She blinked her eyes, an enigmatic look obscuring her eyes, preventing me what little I could from her. "Yes. It was." The way she said it. It didn't feel like it was Sasami I was talking to anymore.  
  
***  
The way she stated it was as confusing as the message delivered. Her voice was not tinged with blame, but accusation was there. As to how I might be held accountable for how their perception of me acted in their dreams, I did not know. A prediction of what I would do in the future?  
  
Before I could form anything resembling a thought-out response, her emblem flared, and she reached up, towards me, gazing into my eyes. Mihoshi looked confused, as Sasami's splayed fingers framed my face, her thumbs above my cheekbones, her other digits grasping me firmly, yet softly, not holding me in place, but I could not bring myself to move. I felt my own emblem react, a trio of triangles, resonating in tune with her twin circles, and then I knew.  
  
"Tsunami," I breathed out, softly, taken by surprise, muddled, confused. Crimson eyes stared into mine, calming me, soothing me, and she closed the distance, her freckles growing darker as she got closer to my face. Suddenly, her face, freckles, dimples, eyes and all, became all that I could see. All of which I was aware.  
  
"Come," she whispered softly, her voice light. There was no chime, no swirling about, nothing that altered my vision. All I knew was, when I blinked, I found myself staring back into those very same eyes, those very same dots, and yes, even the same freckles... in a much larger scale. I pulled back, her slender fingers slipping free from my face, their warmth leaving me.  
  
I fell back, and landed, surprised, right on my ass. I opted to stay quiet. The less I opened my mouth, the fewer the chances I will say something stupid. All I knew was, I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Okayama actually.  
  
I was on the Tsunami, wherever She hid Herself away from the rest of the universe.  
  
She continued to look down upon me, clad in Her flowing white robes. Yes, she looked just as she did then, when I fought -survived- Kagato, and when Sasami revealed to us her symbiosis. Underneath that billowy robe that all but hid everything of Her, was crimson, azure, and lime. All so noble, and what little I knew of clothing was that it looked so Japanese. Yamato and Jurai shared common history asides from me and my clan?  
  
I should have felt insecure in the presence of a Goddess. Especially one that had just plucked me from the Earth, to be Her audience, what purpose, I, for once, had some idea what for. I was still there, sitting on one of the stepping tones that was in Tsunami's pond, leading to Her tree, which She stood in front of, and I thought it funny, I was technically now aware of two of Her representations. Her humanoid form, Her tree form, and of course, the ship it controlled.  
  
I stood up. What to say? I placed my hand behind my head, at a loss. "Erm, hi Tsunami," I remarked. At least I didn't make a comment about the weather. yet.  
  
There was something different about how She stared at me. Before it was as if She was attending to me as if I was a child, the way I've seen servants do so to their charges, rather impersonal, but efficient. Granted I was ignorant then, and I still am, but now She seems to be regarding me in a different light. The eyes were the same shade as I remembered from before. In fact, everything about Her seemed identical, except for Her. I don't know. Something's just different.  
  
"About what Sasami foresaw," Tsunami began, and I could not only hear Her melodious voice flowing into my ears, but also into my mind.  
  
It was beautiful, but the message it delivered. Tsunami's momentary blinked when my expression fell. It must have fallen, granted I choose to believe that nothing in the future is solid, but, its Tsunami! I drew a breath, telling myself to stop from panicking. "Will it come true," I told Her, unable to keep a slight edge of discomfort from my voice.  
  
She gave a slight nod, and I could almost feel my mood drop another notch. "To a degree, but-"  
  
I nodded, thankful that my mind seemed to be working now. "It can be changed. to a degree," I followed, using her words. Is that a smile I see on her. Its not the Sasami smile, but yes, it is.  
  
She approached me, and waited at the bank of the small island Her tree, Her self, whatever, and gave me a slight look.  
  
Yes, this Tsunami was different. If people can change, then I suppose, Tsunami can as well. There was something else in Her eyes that I could see now. mischief, amusement. Sasami.  
  
Noting how my stone was the first one from the tree, I bowed to Her in the Western fashion and held out my hand. She looked somewhat confused, and I noticed, this was the first time that I would be initiating contact between us. The other times my hands were just there, frozen, not knowing what to do. Still, Tsunami took it, a bit oddly, as if She was not familiar with the type of contact, my calloused left tenderly grasping her ethereal right.  
  
Tsunami was here to tell me something. I gather She wouldn't bother unless I had hope, and last time. it was Her that gave me a second chance to succeed. Hope. I let that memory lift my spirits, and her hand in mine, I stepped back into the stepping stone behind me, and I leaned forward, keeping our extended arms slack.  
  
How did a Goddess' touch feel? Heavenly would be a such a lame pun, but it fits. I felt a momentarily pang of shame. My hands, condition from years of chores and budo, grasping something which I assume Her followers, the Jurains or someone else, would define the pinnacle of their existence. The hand of God, the hand of a Goddess, is it the same thing? I'm a Zen Buddhist, not a Christian. As. celestial as it felt, it also felt familiar. I saw a slight look of confusion on Tsunami's face, mirroring my own. We've done this before? Oh. but Sasami has held my hand before.  
  
"Sasami?" I asked. "Do you know this from her." I said softly, not really needing a response.  
  
"Yes," Tsunami replied, stepping forward onto the stone that I had just vacated.  
  
"So as she turns into You, You turn into Her," I murmured, partly to myself as we repeated the step-back, step-forward routine till both of us was on shore. A little portion of me wondered just what Washu and Mihoshi were doing. Was my body still there, will this exchange last but a second there, did I disappear? Then again, what happened to Sasami?  
  
Tsunami nodded. "Yes."  
  
I did one odd thing I've always wondered about. I looked down as Tsunami stepped forward. Yes, I caught a bit of flesh there. She had feet! I felt silly. I was threatened with death, which was somehow connected to Yosho's own demise, as well as being set in some exotic, rather, unknown time and place. "The dream Sasami had," I inquired. "What is about?"  
  
"You're future," Tsunami responded, "and how it will be jeopardized by your past," She finished with that melodic out-of-body voice She had, but the words bounced right off me. Oh that made sense.  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked Her. To my knowledge, before I had met any of the girls, I don't think I have ever done anything that would come back to haunt me. Well, that store might have had cameras. and of course, that girl.  
  
"Do you believe in yourself?" Tsunami asked, countering my question with one of Her own. She approached me, and it seemed, since last time, She hasn't developed a sense of personal space. Some part of me could feel the millimeters of separation between us, and my nose could feel Hers, which had sidled up against it. If I wasn't so confused, I might have been tempted to steal a kiss.  
  
Believe in myself? That sounds so clichéd. But, it was a serious question, I think. "I do," I replied. "Just how much, I don't know," I amended.  
  
Somehow, I couldn't help but feel that I just lied. "You are, Tenchi," Tsunami told me, and She cocked Her head to the side slightly. A gesture of confusion? "You are denying it though, from yourself."  
  
Well, how could I fight against that? Me psyching myself out, I'd be the last to know, wouldn't I? I shrugged helplessly, earning another confused look. Mortals must seem so irrational to Her, but She does have Sasami to teach Her. Then again, with our makeshift- "Family," I said, looking up at Tsunami.  
  
She blinked. "What do you mean?"  
  
"We're a family," I told Her. A Goddess confused, and it wasn't by one of the universe's great mysteries, but rather, a random epiphany. "You're a part of it too," I told Her. Somehow, telling someone 'I live with Goddess' didn't seem so farfetched anymore. Granted, at times I felt as if I lived within some manga, or live-action anime.  
  
"Family?" Tsunami asked. I knew She didn't ask what the definition was. I realized. Did beings like Tsunami have lives like ours? She must know what it is, but She may not know just how it was to be in one.  
  
"That's right, Sasami," I told her, giving Her a wink.  
  
She blinked accordingly, before nodding in realization, knowing what She had said before on that night. "Of course." she paused, "Tenchi-ni- chan," She added, and it was I that was thrown off. The more I learn, the more I am confused. I saw Her face flush softly, just a small blush, amplifying the triangular formation of freckles that She retained. Kawaii. Sadly, She also meant business. "You are aware of the past incident that occurred."  
  
A glib remark was on the tip of my tongue: you mean the girls, or Octopus-head? "You sent us a warning then," I said, remembering that Sasami did guess that one. There had to be a connection. "The same person sent him, the Lady?" I asked Her, using Sasami's name for the female figure in her dreams.  
  
I saw Tsunami nod, a small smile coming to Her features, complimenting the increased color She seemed to have on Her pale skin, a faint rose glow. "Correct, but," Tsunami held up a finger. "Her objective has changed."  
  
"Her? Who is she?" I asked. I had a feeling that Tsunami was holding back on me. Then again, I can't really read people to begin with, but, aren't 'divine' or rather, powerful beings people too? I pushed my thoughts of metaphysics out of my head, I had to focus. "Why is this person after them?" I asked, a slight edge coming to my voice.  
  
It felt natural, for that anger to appear. Of course, that person threatened my family. I knew that when I faced Kagato that I would do what ever I could to make sure they were safe, happy, secure. Anything that threatened that would be dealt with. Why do I feel wrath? Because they are in danger.  
  
Tsunami simply nodded, a soft gesture that did not disturb Her turquoise locks, the same coiffure that Sasami now sported, well, it was Hers to begin with. Aeka and Sasami's appearance have always bothered me, how a gaijin, well uchujin actually, seems to be from my country's past eras. Then again, the Hojo Tokuso were still in power when they left Jurai, but how did that link Yamato to Jurai?  
  
"Tokimi," Tsunami began, and in our close proximity, I could feel the air She breathed as She spoke. I immediately filed away that name. My adversary had a name I could put to it now. Well, I'm sure the girls might know something about this person. Tsunami continued, after pausing, maybe sensing the change in my mood. "She originally sought to." She paused, "acquire Washu," She said softly, and She locked Her crimson eyes to mine, if it was possible, She brought Her face closer to mine.  
  
"She wanted to capture Washu?" I asked Tsunami. "But," I continued, something else coming to my mind. "Why did Zero try to kill me?" I knew the answer before the question had finished leaving my mouth.  
  
"Because Tenchi," a lecturing voice said from the side, "they were smart." I turned to see Washu, approaching us, still clad in the lime pajamas with crimson crabs. "They would eliminate the threat to their plans before making the final move towards their objective," Washu held her hand to the base of her throat, "me."  
  
So, I was now a legitimate target. Well, its not as if I never was when Kagato came. "Why would they be after you, Washu?" I knew I was out of my depth, but it would be stupid of me not to find out.  
  
Washu shrugged, giving me befuddled look. "I don't know either," she replied. She looked crossly at Tsunami and I. Oh. No, not this again.  
  
"How did you get here?" I asked her. I looked out to the side and saw the Earth.  
  
Washu gave me a look. Somehow, her new features seemed to amplify it, that stare of frustration that she gave me. "You realize that I nearly had a panic attack when you and Sasami suddenly disappeared!" she burst out, an exasperated tone evident in her duskier voice. "Luckily," she pointed out, still giving me a somewhat dirty stare, "I was able to track you-"  
  
"How?" I interrupted, stepping away from Tsunami and facing Washu, whereas before my head was turned towards her.  
  
"I bugged you," she said quickly, trying to mesh it into one incoherent word.  
  
"Excuse me?" I blurted out, surprised.  
  
"I implanted a transmitter on you, Tenchi," Washu began in a factual tone, trying a new strategy. I was not amused. I only opted to bow my head down and to repress a sigh. Of course. I just hoped it wasn't a suppository. She coughed lightly, causing me to look at her again. "The point is Tenchi, Tokimi is after you," she thrust an accusing finger out at me, emphasizing her statement. There was no mirth in those emerald eyes, only harsh reality.  
  
"Who is Tokimi?" I asked both Tsunami and Washu, angry at my ignorance, perfectly understandable as it was. I came from a country that did not so much reward intelligence as punished ignorance, and it is really haunting me now.  
  
"A Goddess," Washu began, walking up close to us to form a small triangle with Tsunami and I as its other vertexes. She gave a slight smirk at Tsunami's slight blink.  
  
"How did you-" Tsunami spoke.  
  
"-I simply took the facts and created my own hypothesis," Washu clarified, going into a lecturing tone. "Tokimi has been mentioned in past Juraian," Washu emphasized, "records before. Also," Washu held up two fingers, "other references to this person have been as either an idea, or a cult of some sort. Even as Tsunami's antithesis." Washu uncurled a third finger. "Three: these records have been spread over millennia, and always shrouded with more rhetoric than fact!" Washu spat out. "Fourth," Washu pointed her now uncurled pinky at Tsunami, "you came along, and its obvious that you are somehow related to this person." Washu made a show of closing her fist. "Thus, it stands to reason that Tokimi is related to you somehow. Rival perhaps?" Washu inquired, and I knew that she didn't intend to hear any responses.  
  
"No," Tsunami replied simply, and Washu graced her with a doubtful look, arms akimbo in her bunched-up silk sleeves, a crimson eyebrow arched. "I am." Tsunami paused, "affiliated with Tokimi, yet-"  
  
I cut her off, reaching a conclusion of my own. "You aren't exactly the best of friends with Her are you?" I asked, repressing a groan. Something in my mind clicked. "But, She's not after you?"  
  
Washu gave me an approving smile as Tsunami almost looked like She grew uncomfortable. The Goddess turned to me, seeming to disregard Washu. "No, Tokimi is not aware of my presence."  
  
"But if Tokimi was," I continued, my voice speeding up as I jumped to the next logical waypoint, "then you would also be pursued?" I asked Her.  
  
Tsunami gave a slow nod. "Only after She has acquired Washu."  
  
I knew Tsunami to be an incredibly powerful being, after all, She had extricated me from the vacuum where Azaka and Kamidake somehow preserved me, and helped bring forth something within me. Something that only She knew about. Why though? I also remembered that somehow, Tsunami could not defend Herself against Kagato. If they are so powerful. "Why hasn't Tokimi captured Washu by now then?" I asked, "why did She have to send someone else in Her place?"  
  
Washu nodded, joining in. "Another item I have been wondering about," she concurred, shaking her head. "Its not as if this Goddess has a personality complex that She delegates Her work to minions," Washu growled out in a furious tone, obviously referring to Clay.  
  
Tsunami continued to disregard Washu, almost snubbing her. "Tenchi," She began, getting my attention, closing the distance between us again, as if somehow the close proximity would help convey Her message. Actually. it did. "Tokimi and I are possessed of much." Tsunami blinked, "power." Tsunami paused a minute for me to soak in the obvious, as Her nose was again sidled up against mine, and She said softly, not nearly a whisper, "Yet, we lack precision," Tsunami finished softly, and once again, all I could see was Her face; the triangles of freckles, the rose eyes seeming to draw me in, and two circles where right triangles should have been.  
  
"You can't focus it?" I said softly, understanding, well thinking that I understood some of what She was saying. Is that why Tsunami didn't act. or was it because She wanted me to push myself on the Shoja?  
  
Washu's soft chuckle interrupted me, and I noticed I could identify their presences. It wasn't the strange buzz that coursed through my body from Tsunami's near-physical contact, but their beings. Tsunami's felt as if it was enveloping me, bliss, and I felt that I could accept anything that She said as truth. But, Washu's was a fierce crimson, color? It was strong, and Washu was trying to break through the secure, warm, all- encompassing shell Tsunami seemed to be. "Correct, Tenchi," the scientist in her praised me, something in that tone keeping me from feeling confident. "I would assume that respectively, Tsunami and Tokimi would wield control over tremendous force, but the inability to properly direct it as they would require."  
  
"Then how come Tsunami can take me aboard while Tokimi can't simply snatch me away." I wondered about that.  
  
"Because," Washu replied, "Tokimi has much more power than Tsunami, and I wager that Tokimi is used to acting on a different level than Tsunami. It isn't a matter of apples to oranges, more like apricots to watermelons."  
  
In a brief moment of stupidity, I burst out, "She's more powerful than Tsunami?"  
  
Tsunami nodded, pulling away as She did so. "Yes, amongst the Goddesses, Tokimi is the one who wields the most power. However, She cannot focus them on such a small level. Proxies are then sent to carry out Her will"  
  
I looked at Washu. "In other words, we're too small for Her to even deal with Herself?"  
  
"You don't see me wallowing in self pity," she replied, amused. "The trick is, to defeat Her minions. Though she can keep throwing them at us till the end of time. "  
  
"Somehow I think we'll lose," I told them both, resigned in my normal manner. "I take it we can't really beat Her, so what do we do? Find some way to force Her to back off?"  
  
Washu waggled her finger at me. "Close, there is no conceivable way we can confront Tokimi and win decisively; it'd be hard to even define what the conditions for victory will be. However, Goddess or no, the Bitch can be satiated. Its simply a matter of finding out how. Is that right?" She looked towards Tsunami, a tiny predatory edge in her light smile. I felt a bit used, thinking that she may have used me to set up Tsunami to revealing anything she was hiding from us.  
  
Tsunami blinked, almost as if She was off in Her own little world, oblivious to the small bits of hostility even I detected from Washu. "There is one way." Washu leaned in closer, as did I. "To give yourselves over to Her."  
  
I slumped slightly, and I saw Washu's left brow twitch. "Of course," I said, with some resigned humor in my voice. "So we can't just hope for something else to distract Her so that She'll stop sending Her followers after us?" I asked rhetorically.  
  
Washu perked up. "It's the only solution we do have, Tokimi doesn't exactly follow a timetable, does she." She had a sly smile on her face, mixed with a maniacal glitter in the viridian eyes. I originally thought that light, crystalline blue eyes were the color of madness in people, now I know it to be emerald. "I can," she began, "make a device that is capable of delivering enough energy in a precise position as well as instability to a wide," she gestured, "area."  
  
I could hear the 'but' in her statement before she got to it. "Yet somehow it'd end up destroying a galaxy or two, right?"  
  
"The universe actually," Washu replied, casually disappointed. "Keep in mind, Tokimi isn't on the same plane we are, so when," I frowned at her for that, "we do, if we do," she corrected herself, "it would have to be delivered into her dimension. The ripples of which would of course rip through a couple of dimensional barriers and tear a universe or two apart."  
  
"In addition to causing several galaxies to implode totally and begin absorbing their neighbors," Tsunami interrupted patiently. "The universe would not be so much destroyed as recycled."  
  
"Wait," I said, a thought just entering in my mind, "you've thought about it?"  
  
Tsunami gave me a nod, and I felt like smashing my head repeatedly onto Her namesake tree. Well, I suppose it was logical, but such thinking pretty much had this world under the blanket of total nuclear annihilation because two damn nations and ways of governing just had to have their way.  
  
"Even with the wings of the Light Hawk, I know I cannot defeat all that Tokimi might send against us," I told them up front. I may be able to hold them off for a long time, but then again, that is the issue: time. How long till She grows tired and gives us a break, or perchance another matter comes up entire and She is distracted by either a crisis or a shiny new toy to have."  
  
"That's the second time you mentioned it," Washu told me. "It does make sense however, yet finding something that could divert the miniscule amount of attention She does have for us would be hard to find. Its not like She has a thing for jewelry or some other petty hobby."  
  
"Are you able to render any advice or assistance to us now?" I asked Tsunami, turning back to enjoy the vista of the Earth from above, I tried to spot Japan, but couldn't. I saw the telltale prong of the Korean peninsula, but apparently the home islands were obscured by clouds. all except for a certain bit of green that I knew to be Okayama. Then again it could have been Kyushu for all the precision I had from up here.  
  
"I cannot interfere," Sasami's future self told us. "For me to do so would only invoke more of Tokimi's attention." She looked at the two of us. "Needless to say, you will have to be Tenchi's power base."  
  
"Excuse me," Washu chimed in, "its not as if you're setting him up to be the Emperor of Jurai are you?" Tsunami's constant stare didn't answer Washu's remark. "Since you can't help in a direct fashion, which is what we need you most for, we will have to rely on ourselves." Washu looked at me, as if measuring me somehow. "Tenchi, you know what this means."  
  
I shrugged. "I've asked for your assistance before. This shouldn't be so different. I wonder though, if you girls weren't bickering, just how much would we able to accomplish?" I could have sworn I saw Tsunami grimace for a moment. "Washu seems to have the most resources." I trailed off.  
  
"Does this mean you become my little guinea pig?" she remarked in a voice that tried to be cute.  
  
I sniffed a little. "This makes it official," I told her. "Really though, I know you've wanted to see just how I'm attached to the wings and how I am able to use them."  
  
"Have you been hiding something from me?" Washu asked, leaning in slightly.  
  
"No," I replied honestly. "Its something that I'm afraid of; being the unknown. I've consciously pulled them out before, but of course, there were mitigating circumstances. My swordsmanship isn't exactly a shining example of budo; hell, I don't even have an official form!"  
  
"Actually, it's the Terran adaptation of a rather flashy Jurain form," Washu told me. "The fundamentals were there. The Juraians evolved it from kinetic weapons; metals and nonmetals, polearms when they used energy-based melee weapon, polearm and sword essentially meshed and became one. All Yosho did was take a step back and adapt it to the local weaponry," Washu went on, seeming to be immersed in her lecture. "The Japanese developed a weapon early on and stuck with it for centuries, so Yosho had a reliable version. Hell, the Katana may only have been several centuries old, but it did have similar Tachi roots before."  
  
"Which helps me how?" I brought up. I could tell she wanted to hit me then. Then again, I did shoot down her lecture.  
  
"Why'd you bring up your swordsmanship?" Washu replied. "Offensively and defensively, the wings are all but infallible. However-"  
  
"Its deploying them that's the problem," I finished for her, earning an approving nod. "Its worthless when they catch me off-guard, or when they attack any of you," I emphasized, "outside of my sphere of influence." A pun. ha-ha, it is to laugh.  
  
"Correct. This is why you need us, me, actually, to help you. Come on, just how much help you think Aeka and Ryoko are going to be in this situation. They are liabilities," Washu clarified, "they pretty much have damsel-in-distress syndrome down pat."  
  
I bowed my head at that. "Ouch, still, they do need to be in the plan, every little bit helps, plus they do have their own abilities."  
  
"Combat-wise, Ryoko, and even Aeka are formidable. However, they were nothing against Kagato," she snarled his name. Her face grew serious, grim and showing no small amount of fear. "Unless I unlock something I built into my daughter," Washu said slowly, and I knew I would not ask her why not, "only you will be at the level any of who She chooses to send against you. You will have to rely on us as your support structure. You can only do so much alone. What's a well-trained army without guidance, a home, food, scouts, and spies. nothing."  
  
"Sun-Tzu," I coughed.  
  
"Common sense, actually," Washu told me. "You're still going to have to be the man of the household," she jibed, and I felt as if I wouldn't really mind. Though of course, I wish the circumstances were different. "Yet, on the bright side, you have us girls to help you out." I wondered if I was being patronized.  
  
"I will observe and do what I can," Tsunami told the two of us. "However, Washu is correct, Tenchi, you will have to rely upon them as your structure. However, make sure you can function independent of them since Tokimi's own will try to isolate you from them."  
  
I nodded. "As what happened in Sasami's vision," I thought out loud. "If you can Sasami," I told her softly, using Her other name, "is there anything that I can do to prepare."  
  
Tsunami smile changed from the serene, benevolent, almost bubble- headed fashion she seemed to always have. It was Sasami's. one with a hint of sadness. Ignoring Washu, she reached out to grasp my shoulders and pulled me close. She touched her emblem unto mine and I heard her voice in my mind. "You have to let us go."  
  
***  
  
There was no sparkling that accompanied my return back to Earth, no flash, nothing. One moment I was aboard Tsunami, now I'm back with my feet in the grass. I did not have to look down to know that Sasami was in front of me, her small hands now on my forearms not my shoulders as Tsunami had. Wisely, I chose not to ask anymore. I could ask and ask, but if I couldn't even understand the fundamentals as to what they meant to me, it'd be pointless to simply sift through their own reasons half-assed.  
  
I noticed that we had returned next to the Yukinojo, and I saw Mihoshi perched up on its upturned wing. Splotched with caked earth and dried mud, the ship still had dignity. As did its mistress, reclining against where the starboard wing met the fuselage, clasping her left knee to herself, leg bent, while her right was splayed forwards. Our eyes met, and I waved. "Did you miss us?" I joked.  
  
"A little," she called back. "You were only gone for a couple of minutes, by the way, what did you do?" She stood, walking up to the fore of the wing's front, and looked down at us, hands touching her sides.  
  
"Tsunami wanted to talk," I answered. I looked down at Sasami and back up at Mihoshi. I mouthed my next statement. "About the dream."  
  
Mihoshi did not acknowledge what told her. Instead, she jumped down and walked up to us. "What do you want to do now, Sasami?" she asked our smallest member in the group.  
  
"Home," she decided, taking my left hand in her left as she began to lead us home. "I don't want to miss my show," she clarified, and I laughed. I remember those days. never thought I'd stop watching morning anime.  
  
My stomach growled low, and my two companions laughed. "Well, my appetite is for food, not for the view." With Sasami on my left, and Mihoshi at my right, we began to make the short trip back to the house. "I wonder what's taking Washu so long," I mused.  
  
Mihoshi sighed, "Tenchi, you shouldn't go saying things like that," she told me softly.  
  
"Why?" Oh, nevermind.  
  
With impeccable timing, a portal opened up several meters above and to the left of us, and letting out a shriek, Washu plummeted to the field of grass. I winced as she impacted, cutting off her scream with a grunt as her wind was knocked out. The three of us just stared. When Washu picked herself up off the ground, several grass stains were on her, shaded streaks of viridian on her limbs and several darker stains on her dress. "Dammit Tenchi! Don't you know you're supposed to catch me." she grumbled, and I held up my occupied arms in reply. I smiled at her, why did I find her new makeup so cute? "That's not an excuse," she scolded me, taking up the vanguard position. "Ack, my dress!"  
  
It was just something about that statement, and especially coming from someone like Washu that I found so amusing that I began to chuckle openly. At the wounded look she gave me, I shook my head. "Sorry, I just think you look well, beautiful." She was, stains and all. Something about her adult form, her true form in such simple, yet elegant attire. She didn't quite fill the lime sundress out, and the hollows and folds that were there fascinated me.  
  
"You're not normal, you know that?" Washu remarked, and I was glad that she didn't take offense.  
  
I saw a black and orange mass approaching us at high speed from the fields. It cried out with a trademark Mi-ya! "Wait, Ryo-ohki isn't orange," I thought out loud.  
  
The inbound cabbit altered its flight path towards our party, and Washu walked up towards her, kneeling down on one knee, her arms opened out wide, ready to receive her daughter in a classic come-to-mama pose. I really should start carrying a camera. Washu, beyond her heart, about to gather up Ryo-Ohki into her arms.  
  
It was a beautiful moment, and would have been just adorable had not Ryo-Ohki missed Washu's arms entirely, instead using her mother's coiffure as a trampoline of sorts to leap into Sasami's grasp, who had broken for me to welcome her playmate. Washu held that pose, the look on her face souring from frozen shock to a tremble as Mihoshi let out a gleeful laugh as Sasami hugged Ryo-Ohki to herself, a pilfered carrot in the cabbit's mouth.  
  
I walked over to Washu and helped her up, giving her a sympathetic smile. I didn't know what to say. Instead I looked over at Ryo-Ohki, who somehow managed to strap a bundle of carrots to her back. No wonder I'm usually short a few.  
  
I glanced up and saw something odd in the sky. Well, something odd about the fixture Washu had somehow installed; the floating onsen. The transparent dome was covered in wash, obvious that a lot of water was being tossed about. "What's going on over there?" I asked.  
  
"Oh, Aeka and Ryoko are taking a morning soak," Mihoshi told us. Washu and I looked at each other and sighed. I winced sympathetically at the flustered scientist, tugging on her right hand gently with my left as I began to lead her back to the house.  
  
"In the morning? Really! Those two have problems," Washu remarked, and I found it funny that she was embarrassed at her other daughter's antics. I chose to say nothing, not wanting to make an unwarranted wisecrack.  
  
We reached the deck and hopped onto the polished oak boards. I watched them enter the house, and followed, thinking, that for now, all was right with the world.  
  
End 'Epiphany' 


End file.
